But what will they think?
by UncleGrandpa14
Summary: Ritsu is lost, she's broken, she's lost the one person she's always wanted. But someone new gives her hope, and shines a light onto her ever darkening life. Ritsu x Yui
1. Chapter 1: The start of a relationship

Chapter 1: A new relationship

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It was another cold day in the music room at Sakuragaoka high school; five friends were gathered round the table in the centre of the room. Despite the chilly temperature, friendly conversation continued as normal and snacks were consumed as they usually were. Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, a particular drummer wasn't quite her usual self.

"Ritsu-senpai!" a young guitarist shouted into her senpai's ear.

Ritsu was in a state of panic for a second at the sudden disturbance to her thoughts, she quickly re organised herself and replied "sorry Azusa, what did ya say?"

"Yui senpai keeps insisting that its normal for friends to kiss!" Exclaimed the young girl, Ritsu didn't reply, but instead stared off into space, thinking about Yui kissing Azusa. Her thoughts then turned towards Yui kissing herself, and she returning the favour. A sense of shame and betrayal suddenly overtook her as she glanced towards Mio, she was making lighthearted conversation with Mugi, unaware of Ritsu's longing gaze on her.

"Are you even listening senpai?" Azusa shouted at the drummer, Ritsu didn't even flinch at the voice so desperately begging for her attention, for she was too lost in her own thoughts. Eventually a bassist gave Azusa the attention she craved.

"Yui lay off Azusa a bit" She strictly said to the guitarist. The guitarist sank at the instruction; Ritsu couldn't help but shift her head over to the moping guitarist. Everything about Yui was just so… appealing to Ritsu, her hair, her big eyes, her innocence, her childlike love for her friends and anything cute. Just sometimes she wished that Yui had clung onto her instead of Azusa…

"Right, I'll be off then" Mio said as she rose from her chair.

"I'll go with you!" Azusa said, trying to pry Yui off of her while doing so.

"Count me in." Mugi said, examining her tea pot and seeing the severe lack of any tea in it, it just wasn't a music club without any tea…

"C'mon Azunyan!" Yui weakly exclaimed, trying to get a grip on the younger girls legs to pull herself along.

"Ritsu, Yui, are you coming?" Mio asked the pair, she avoided eye contact with Ritsu while doing so.

Ritsu realised the opportunity at hand here, an opportunity to explore her feelings for her private and maybe for that private to explore her feelings for her captain.

"Ill stay back" Ritsu easily said, laying back in her chair. "Might do a bit of maintenance on my drums before I go, go on without me."

"And yui?" Mio shifted her attention to the brunette sprawled out on the floor.

"Eeeeeeeeeehhhh" was all Yui managed to get out of her mouth.

"Guess we'll be leaving then." Mio said with a small sigh and an even smaller smile. "Bye"

Ritsu attempted to catch Mio's eye, but the bassist was having none of it and began decending down the stairs with the others, making friendly chit chat along the way. Ritsu now changed her focus to Yui. She got up and began making her way across the music room, towards the childlike guitarist in front of her.

Ritsu began to try and spark up a conversation with the airhead "You alright Y-"was all Ritsu was able to say before Yui pounced on her, knocking her off her feet and onto the ground. Suddenly Ritsu found herself on the floor, with Yui lying on top of her. "You're unusually warm Rit-chan." Yui sleepily said while she lay on top of the bewildered drummer.

Ritsu searched her mind for something to say, or at the very least a way to properly react to Yui's choice of actions. She noticed that Yui was hugging her, with both her arms wrapped snugly around the drummer. The drummer then recipitated the motion, although it did not go unnoticed by Yui.

"Rit-cha-?" Before any complete words could leave her mouth, Ritsu had pressed her lips against Yui's. After a few seconds she pulled away, embarrassed and partly humiliated with her own actions. What had she done? She had just kissed her close friend without consent? What would Azusa think? What would Mio think? Before she could come to any conclusions, the feeling of being watched washed over her, her gaze wandered to the guitarist still hugging her as they lay together on the floor. Without warning, Yui leaped up and returned the previous kiss to Ritsu. If the drummer could comprehend what was going on, she sure would've returned the kiss. But alas she did not, and Yui pulled away.

Silence engulfed the room as they both sat opposite each other, avoiding eye contact. Moments passed, seeming like eternities, for a second Ritsu forgot where she was and what she had just done, before Yui spoke up.

"I really like you Rit-chan."

Those simple words touched Ritsu's heart, and were all it took to snap the drummer out of her daze.

"l-like me as a friend or…?"

"I LOVE YOU RIT-CHAN!" Yui exclaimed as she pounced on Ritsu once more, hugging her tightly and repeatedly kissing the stunned Drummer on the cheek and lips. This time Ritsu was more aware of what was going on, and quickly began returning the favour. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as both Ritsu and Yui embraced each other and kissed in loving passion. After a time Ritsu pulled away, stood up and simply offered her hand to Yui, who was still sitting on the floor.

Without hesitation Yui took hold of Ritsu's hand, and they walked out of the music room and walked down the stairs, hand in hand, bound by love.


	2. Chapter 2: Is this really what i want?

**A/N:** _text like this _means its a thought  
please leave a review, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, a follow would also be greatly appreciated.

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Chapter 2: Is this really what I want?

It was a cold night tonight, not the kind of cold that you could get away not wearing a coat with, but chilly cold, so chilly that you were tricked into believing that icicles would form from your nose if you didn't wrap up warm. Despite this, two high school girls trekked down the main street, hand in hand, unphased by the cold as they were both still processing the events of the past hour.

_I... I kissed Yui…_ The thought kept making its way into Ritsu's mind; it was both a welcome thought and an unwelcome thought. Welcome for it was what she had desired ever since her… unpleasantries… with Mio, but unwelcome for fear of consequences. *I guess this means I'm over Mio, I guess* Ritsu thought to herself. Her eyes glanced up and looked into Yui's, which were already looking at her. Yui had a mixture of joy and obliviousness on her face, Ritsu wished she could mirror her emotions, but sadly she couldn't with the negative thoughts plaguing her mind.

"So, you wanna head over to that café over there? Maybe we can talk about some… _ahem_ things that happened earlier." Ritsu said. When Yui replied to her with a look of confusion she simply gestured towards her hand, which was still being firmly held by Yui's.

A look of understanding crept its way onto Yui's face. "Ah, okay Rit-chan," Yui replied. Yui began to take the lead, to the point where she was almost pulling Ritsu along. *I guess she wants to sort this out more than I do* Ritsu thought. Had she only thought about Yui in the way that she had earlier because she was on the rebound? Was it real love? Once she got over Mio IF she got over Mio, would she still love Yui? Had she ever loved Yui? Unfortunately, these questions continued flooding Ritsu's mind, refusing to give answers to the onslaught of questions. *I really need to let her down easy* Ritsu's thoughts were interrupted once again by the clang of the bell on the door of the café. Before she knew it she was sitting down on one of the circular tables cafes so often had. She crossed her legs in an attempt to get comfortable, but her body position wasn't what was causing her uncomfortability.

"So Rit-chan, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Yui nonchalantly asked, completely oblivious to Ritsu's uneasiness. Ritsu began formulating a sentence in her head that would explain her actions earlier. "Look Yui I think I was a little too quick too-"

"Rit-chan!"

"Huh?"

"I know you did what you did out of impulse, we all do. But I've loved you for years, and I'm not gonna ever let you go!" Yui exclaimed, much to the displeasure of Ritsu, her shouting caused over the shoulder glances from the couple in front of them. A look of displeasure resonated off the man's face, while his girlfriend simply looked away, seemingly embarrassed by her boyfriend's distaste in same-sex relationships. The look on the man's face brought back painful memories of the prejudice she and Mio had faced when… Well now isn't the time to be thinking about the past, she has to let Yui down, if she doesn't do it now the others will most likely find out.

Ritsu stared into space in front of her, which prompted Yui to try and understand what was on her mind. "Rit-chan?" Ritsu stirred then jumped at being spoken to that time. Once again she realized she'd lost herself in her own thoughts, at this point the number of times this had happened it had become quite concerning. "Sorry Yui, I was just thinking… I…Uh…" Dammit, she couldn't keep letting herself do this. She was Ritsu Tainaka, she didn't stammer, she wasn't embarrassed, she was brave and strong! But alas she was none of those things at this very moment, despite how much she wanted to be.

"Yui I really think we shouldn't rush this, I know it's hypocritical coming from me, but I-"

"RIT-CHA-"

"STOP GODDAMN INTERRUPTING ME!"

Yui fell silent; she stared at the empty plate in front of her, her pupils dared not to make contact with Ritsu's, for fear that the drummer's pupils alone will tear a hole through her very being. Ritsu eventually built up the courage to continue with what she was saying after her outburst. "Look, I haven't had a good time with Mio recently, I'm scared that I only did what I did with you in the music room because I'm lonely. I don't want to hurt you Yui." Ritsu exhaled. Her face was laced with pain and guilt; Pain from the memories that her actions reminded her of, Guilt for what she'd done to her innocent friend. Eventually, she looked up at Yui. She expected anger, hatred, and disgust to greet her, but instead, she saw… sadness?

"Rit-chan" Yui said slowly, trying her best to sound soothing despite the situation she was in. "I know what you and Mio chan went through." Ritsu perked up, a look of disbelief on her face, who could've possibly told the others? Or who even knew for that matter? "Mugi-chan told me." *well, that doesn't surprise me when I think about it* Ritsu thought, she looked up at Yui patiently, waiting for the girl to continue. Eventually, she did.

"Rit-chan I know I hang off Azu-nyan a lot, but I've always thought you were cuter, I just knew you and Mio-chan wanted to make babies tog-"

"I never wanted to do that with her!" Ritsu exclaimed, the looks from others in the café went unnoticed by the drummer. Yui realized she had crossed a line, and scolded herself mentally for it. What was that thing Ui had always told her when she was sad…

"I'm always going to be here for you Rit-chan" Yui quietly said, she wanted to leave, to apologize for going too far. But despite these feelings, she still sat quietly in her chair, waiting to see if her words had the desired effect on the drummer opposite her. "I'm sorry Yui," Ritsu whispered, almost under her breath. Suddenly realizing that she had backed down, she took flight, out of the door of the café, barely hearing the bell as its chimes went unnoticed by her ears. She had failed. Shed failed Mio and now shed failed Yui. Tears threatened to well up in her eyes; she didn't fight the sensation to cry, so she let them freely fall down her cheeks.

It wasn't until Ritsu realized she was lost that she stopped. She found herself in an unfamiliar place, a quick glance around told her all she needed to know: She was lost. Faces looked at her from every which way, she didn't recognize a single one. She was small, she was irrelevant in this place, she was but a mere roadblock for passer-by's to maneuver around so they could continue their journey to their place to be. She wanted someone to come and save her, to guide her back to where she was meant to be. She wanted Mio to be that person. But instead, someone else came, for better or for worse.

"Rit-chan!" Yui's voice echoed in the distance. Ritsu didn't want to hear Yui's voice. She just wanted Mio. Just Mio. Only Mio. "RIT-CHAN!" Her voice became louder, she was getting closer. Ritsu had since stopped running; she was standing idly in the middle of the high street, much to the inconvenience of those using the high street for passage to their destination. Suddenly a hand grabbed hers, her instinct told her to run, for the person who had caught up to her surely wasn't whom she wanted to. Was it? A quick glance to the hand indicated it wasn't.

"Rit-chan" Yui panted, clearly out of breath from chasing the drummer. "I'm sorry Rit-chan. It's just… I always thought we'd make a good baby making team…" Yui looked away as she said it. "Yui, do you know how babies are made?" Ritsu already knew the answer before Yui even said it. "No, but Ui told me it happens when two people love each other a lot, and I love you a lot Rit-chan." Yui beamed, Ritsu still wasn't sold. "By that logic would Azusa have had triplets by now?" Yui searched her mind for an answer as her mind slowly digested the question, eventually, she presented an answer. "But I always loved you more Rit-chan, I just never thought you wanted to make babies with me. So I clung onto Azu-Nyan instead." Yui finished.

Ritsu had a decision to make. Could it work with Yui? Was she telling the truth, had Yui always loved her? Could she trust Yui? A squeeze to her hand answered that question for her. _Well might as well give it a shot_ Ritsu smiled internally, then outwardly towards Yui. It was the first time in a while she had genuinely smiled. Once again both girls walked back home; only this time, Ritsu was sure she was happy.


	3. Chapter 3: Memories

Chapter 3: Memories

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Ritsu stared up into the wall above her, almost wishing to see someone return her gaze. But alas darkness was the only thing she saw. Once again sleep had eluded her, so she was faced with darkness and the terrible anxieties that came with the isolation of darkness. Through the blackness, she could see the outline of some mangas she had left lying around on the floor, the shape of her drum-kit, and the outline of her desk. _Perhaps a manga will help pass the time_ the brunette thought to herself. After a few solid minutes of groping around in the dark due to being too stubborn to get up and turn on the light, she managed to grab hold of one of the mangas. She pulled it up and turned on her bedside light to take a look at what she'd managed to pick up. The title read _True love and how to find it._ Ritsu recoiled at the title and chucked it back into the unforgiving darkness. The title wasn't the only thing bothering Ritsu about that manga, she'd actually borrowed it from… Not now, she can't think about that now, it'll only make her worse; she needs to think positive, think of Yui. THINK. OF. YUI…

"I loved you Ritsu, I really did" Ritsu blinked and sat up in bed, she knew it was just her mind playing tricks on her, but she longed for the times when she was hearing Mio speak such words. _Replaying dirty memories, eh? That's a real classy move brain._ Ritsu thought to herself. She knew if she didn't sleep now, her brain would just continue making unpleasant memories resonate, if only she could goddamn sleep.

Ritsu checked her bedside clock; it read 12 o'clock. _Midnight, huh?_ Ritsu stopped thinking for a second_. I guess I have nothing better to do_. With reluctance, she allowed her brain free rein over her thoughts. The memories started flooding back: "Why Would I ever want to speak to someone as vicious as you?" "I had a quiet life before you came in and wrecked it." It was almost like the memories were queuing up for their turn to take a stab at Ritsu's worn heart. "I don't think I ever liked you; pity just manifested itself into something more genuine." Ritsu shot up in bed; that last one was too far. Why, why did her brain enjoy taunting her, mocking her for her failures? She just wanted to sleep…

Ritsu laid her head on the pillow once more. The tears rolled down her face, leaving a salty smell lingering in the air, constantly reminding her of her weakness. Eventually, the tears stopped falling, and another thought pushed its way in front of all the others. This thought wasn't like the others; it wasn't there to taunt her or to torment her; it comforted her, not only the thought itself, but the words being spoken in the thought.

"I Love you Rit-chan,"

Ritsu smiled to herself, it was almost a forced smile, as she felt like she had to at least try to justify holding onto her relationship with Yui. Despite the forced smile, the thought still put her to slight ease. There was no "d" on the end of that "love". Yui loved her at the present, Mio loved her in the past; she had to move on. Maybe getting back in the dating scene would help her out a bit; bring her a morsel of fresh joy, not the saddening joy brought back by remembering better times. Ritsu rolled over in her bed, thought about Yui's words one more time, and fell asleep.

It was another cold day outside, colder than previous days, to the extent that you'd look daft for not wearing a coat. Ritsu was not one of those daft people and had a thick coat draped over her body, protecting her from the ever-present threat of an inconvenient cold. In the past, Ritsu had had a certain black-haired bassist to walk to school with, but now she walked alone, every footstep she took echoed in her ears, the loneliness of her situation sinking in, tears threatened to well up in her eyes. Ritsu looked around, almost expecting to see Mio there as she'd always been. But she wasn't. And she never would again.

The first tear was about to drop before Ritsu was nearly knocked off her feet by something lunging itself at her. Panic started to take over as she struggled to get the thing off of her, but her efforts lessened when she felt something… Stroking her head...? Ritsu's eyes stared up and found home within Yui's own. Much to Ritsu's relief, the guitarist had pounced on her with an unexpected giant hug. Ritsu fought back the urge to cry from earlier as she began to return the embrace Yui was giving her. _Can't let Yui see me like this…_ "Rit-chan?" Yui's eyes bored deep into Ritsu's soul. _Shit_… "Are you okay?" Ritsu had to answer now, but what to say? She couldn't claim to be fine, that was lame and always let them know something was up… goddamnit, she's getting impatient and more worried…

"Y… y'know when the wind blows really hard at your face and your eyes tear up because of it?" That was a lame excuse, even for me..."Oh, I get it now Rit-chan! " Yui said a light glinting in her eyes as she said it. Suddenly Yui put both her mittened hands over Ritsu's eyes, covering them completely. Without her sight, Ritsu stumbled around, giggling all the way. "Yui I can't see!" she exclaimed, playfully trying to pry Yui's hands off her eyes. For a second she forgot everything that was wrong with her world, her miserable past with… Well now's not the time to be thinking of that. Ritsu successfully pulled one of Yui's hands off of her right eye, "I'm never gonna let you see again Rit-chan!" Yui exclaimed as she tried to re-cover Ritsu's right eye. "Just you wait till I-…" Ritsu stopped dead in her tracks. She was no longer giggling or laughing, for she had seen a remnant of her past.

Mio was across the street, talking with Mugi; they were chatting and laughing, enjoying each other's presence. Yui witnessed the life drain from Ritsu's face. Fresh tears made its way onto Ritsu's cheeks, the fresh tears failed to phase her, as she was lost too deep in her own dark thoughts to realise she was crying. Mio eventually passed further and further down the street. Her figure got blurrier and blurrier as she neared the school.

Instinct kicked in and Ritsu began running, ignoring the calls of confusion from Yui, she wanted her Mio-chan, her dear Mio-chan. Rational thinking was a foreign concept to her mind as she sprinted after the bassist. Looks from curious passer-by's greeted her as she ran, she heeded them no attention or answer as she had her mind set on catching up to Mio. Ritsu's breath eventually failed her and she was forced to stop, not before tripping on her own feet and tumbling over. This gained a rise in the number of eyes upon her, but unfortunately, none of them belonged to the raven-haired bassist who had once meant the world to Ritsu.

Sharp pains radiated from Ritsu's knee as she tried to get herself up. She failed and returned to her sitting position on the pavement. A voice sounded behind her; "Ritsu-Senpai!" Azusa approached the drummer nervously from behind. "A-are you okay senpai?" she asked, her voice grew concerned after seeing blood slowly spilling from the Ritsu's scathed knee. "What does it look like?" Ritsu replied, her annoyance obvious. Ritsu hauled herself up off the ground, legs shaking all the while from the cold and the pain. "Could've used your help getting up." Ritsu irritably said to the quivering guitarist. Azusa forgot to bring her coat today, so her body heat was nothing compared to the weather, although the cold wasn't the only factor making her shiver.

"I-I'm sorr-" Azusa began, but Ritsu cut her off "Just go away, you had your chance to help and you blew it, so go scamper off." Ritsu shamelessly said to her. Azusa's eyes watered at the unnecessarily unkind words and mentally scolded herself for not helping her senpai up. She did as instructed and ran off towards the school, hoping she would still make it there on time.

A hand found its path onto Ritsu's shoulder; she spun around and saw Yui looking her directly in the face. Sweat beads began appearing on Ritsu's face as she saw no smile on the girl staring her down. I don't think I've ever seen Yui look so… stern before. "Rit-chan, that wasn't very nice," Yui said, her usual bubbliness was in her voice, but a strange sound of firmness was also mixed in there. Ritsu felt increasingly dominated by Yui, she seemed to shrink as the girl in front of her grew ever closer. Out of fear for her own life, Ritsu apologised.

"I-I guess I was a-a little too hard on her." Ritsu stammered out, Yui's face brightened up immediately after the words left Ritsu's mouth and she pulled her in for a tight hug. "Don't say mean things Rit-chan, it makes people sad." Yui cooed into her ear. Ritsu felt like resisting, she felt like telling Yui to stick it, that life had treated her badly and the world deserved it… but she didn't, and she embraced Yui back, her warmth making her forget about her previous unkindness towards her Kohai and seeing Mio… Seeing Mio again. Getting on fine without her. Like they'd never been together. Ritsu buried her face deeper in Yui's chest, refusing to let the tears spill. After a few minutes, Yui spoke up "Well, I don't wanna be in any more trouble at school, shall we make our way there?" Ritsu looked up at her and slowly backed out of the embrace. The cogs started turning in Ritsu's head as she processed what Yui had said. "More trouble?"

The rest of the trip to school was fun, Yui told Ritsu about how she had been in trouble over keeping a cat in the clubroom for a few days. Apparently, Yui was trying to teach it how to play the castanets and planned on it being the fifth member of the band. How she kept it under everyone's noses even she didn't know. But eventually Sawako snuffed it out, and she'd been walking on thin ice ever since. During the story Ritsu found herself actually laughing, nobody had, or even for that matter tried, to make her laugh in the past few weeks, ever since… since Mio… left she'd left a hole in Ritsu's heart that was still there to this day. But the hole seemed to subside as she was listening to Yui, the drummer's look of joy dropped as they entered the school grounds.

We shouldn't make it obvious, not make a big deal out of… eh? Ritsu was snapped out of her thoughts by a hand wrapping itself around hers. She looked up and met Yui's eyes. "Ehehe, my hands are cold" Was all she had to say for herself for destroying Ritsu's ever so carefully thought out plan. Ritsu sighed and began her walk into school with Yui, knowing that no matter the looks she gets, Yui's hand will be enough to keep her feeling safe from those judgemental eyes.

"Is that… Ritsu-san?"

"I thought she was with Mio-san,"

"No no, I heard they broke up,"

"but they were such a cute couple, it's like they were made for each other,"

"Is that girl, holding hands, with another girl?"

"I wonder why Ritsu-san isn't wearing her usual headband,"

"Good on 'em for not being scared to display their feelings,"

"Here come the attention seekers,"

Hushed voices continued to fill Ritsu's ears as she and Yui approached the classroom. Some of such voices were supportive, encouraging love to flourish, and the others hoping nothing more than to see their relationship fall apart at its hinges. Unkind words were picked up more commonly than supporting ones as she made her way with Yui. Ritsu cast a glance at Yui, the girl looked as oblivious as always, but Ritsu realised Yui was squeezing her hand a little tighter than she was earlier. The pair rounded an intersection and turned face to face with a young twin pigtailed guitarist.

"Yui-senpai? And… Ritsu Senpai…"Azusa's vision wandered towards the linking of hands between the two. Her eyes first filled with confusion, then fear, then hurt. Tears welled up in the young girls' brown eyes as she tried to keep herself together, bearing no luck at doing so, she ran off in the other direction, despite her classroom being the opposite way.

Eventually, after hearing many spiteful words, they made their way into the classroom. Silence overtook the area as they both came in, still hand in hand. Ritsu's eyes wandered over the classroom curiously to see who was witnessing their arrival. Mugi was there, looking directly at them, she had a small nosebleed but she seemed quite unfazed by it. Ritsu's amber eyes suddenly found themselves staring directly into grey ones.

Mio held the gaze for a few seconds before tearing away, looking hurt on the inside. A pang of guilt hit Ritsu, as she saw Mio's face sadden. Although a quick jog of her memory reminded her of the pain Mio had inflicted on her, and the guilt subsided. Yui broke the physical bond between them by letting go of Ritsu's hand, not before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. Ritsu's face brightened immensely as the class looked on. Yui obliviously took her seat and began chatting with Nodoka as in nothing had taken place.

Ritsu then took her seat. All eyes lingered on her and Yui until classes finally started. The rest of the day passed normally for the two, besides lunch when they sat together. Ritsu noticed that Mio and Mugi were sitting at a separate desk to them. Ritsu thought back to the day before, _Mugi knows huh, I wonder what she thinks of me now, I haven't spoken to her since…_ Tears started to emerge in Ritsu's eyes. At this point crying was a normal thing for her, so she simply let the tears roll down her cheeks. Maybe Mugi didn't want to hang out with her anymore, Mugi was gonna hang around Mio, and–

Before Ritsu's train of thought could continue to bring her down pale arms reassuringly wrapped themselves around her. Ritsu let Yui hug her without resistance, she didn't care about people looking at them, she didn't care that she looked like she was relying on Yui for emotional support. She just wanted someone to show they still liked her.

Once again Ritsu found herself staring out the window. She watched the birds perch themselves on the trees and began feeding their young. The birds appeared to be blue jays, constructing their den for their young to rest in. 3 more little blue jays were crowding around the biggest of the blue jays, most likely the mother as she continued placing twigs ever so carefully onto her nest, reinforcing it and solidifying its place in the tree. The sound of the bell signaling the end of school brought her to her senses. Before she could slip back into her own thoughts, another sound kept her from doing so.

"Rit-chan?" Yui said, nearing her, Ritsu looked up and met Yui's gaze. "Yeah?" "Well Rit-chan, you've been awfully absent-minded recently, and it's starting to worry me." Yui's brown eyes were filled with concern, something Ritsu longed to see less of in her innocent eyes. Ritsu held the gaze before answering plainly "yeah." She couldn't say anything else; she just wanted the guilt of making such an innocent soul feel pain to go away. She had to say something to satisfy her, at least SOMETHING to reassure that pained look. "I-I've just been thinking about… Us recently." Ritsu explained. It wasn't entirely a lie, as she had thought about their relationship a bit, but it hadn't been on her mind as much as her past had.

Yui's eyes lit up as soon as the words left Ritsu's mouth "Really? Did you notice that my hands smelt different today?" Yui bashfully asked. Ritsu gave the airhead a more than confused look "No," Ritsu cautiously replied, "Well I've actually been using perfume on my hands in hopes that you'll want to hold my hand more if it smelt nice." Ritsu thought back to Yui's theory of baby making she presented to her yesterday "geez how pregnant do you wanna be?"

Yui quickly answered, "It's not about baby making Rit-chan, it's about showing love!" She exclaimed as she grabbed Ritsu's hand and pulled her in for a kiss. Ritsu quickly maneuvered herself to make Yui's kiss land on her cheek; she didn't want to kiss her on the lips, not in the classroom. Yui looked dejected for a second before Ritsu precipitated the kiss onto Yui's cheek. The guitarist brightened up and made a simple pleasured "ehehe" noise while rubbing the back of her head embarrassedly. They exited the classroom and stopped at a familiar staircase. This staircase leads to the music room.


	4. Chapter 4: Tensions

**A/N: **Sorry this took so long, i gave up on this story for a while, but i'm back now, no promises if the next chapter will ever get finished tho.

A review would be appreciated, especially one on grammar and punctuation, that's one i believe i struggle with alot.

Thanks and enjoy the story.

**Chapter 4: **Tensions

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"What do you mean, Rit-chan?" Yui asked, trying to piece together an answer from the look on the look on the drummer's face alone. Ritsu looked down at the floor, not wanting to admit to Yui why she can't face Mio. _Well doesn't she already know? Didn't Mugi tell her? _Even if the latter was correct she still didn't want to tell Yui about the… Unpleasantries between her and Mio that fractured her forever. "Yui, Me and m-Mio used to…" Ritsu's voice failed her as she trailed off, her gaze wandered anywhere besides Yui's curious eyes.

Ritsu took a deep breath, mustered all of her strength and continued, "Me and m-Mio used to date. And we had a falling out and now…" Ritsu's voice neglected her once again as she felt herself about to tear up. Ritsu let it all out, not just tears but the memories, what she'd done to Mio, what Mio had done to her. After it all she was a fragile mess, her eyes stung with tears as she tried to recompose herself. Eventually she did, or did enough to see Yui's reaction. Yui looked troubled but understanding. Ritsu perceived her look as that at least, who knows what that girl was really thinking.

The rain poured down onto the gigantic windows on the walls, rain attempted to make its way into the building, to spread itself into every little crevice it could, but the windows prevented them from doing this. Ritsu gazed into the cloudy sky outside, the beating of rain onto the window uneffecting her train of thought. Yui followed Ritsu's gaze, but failed to see anything in the limitless sky, her worry for the drummer heightened.

A hand felt its way into her hand, wrapping its fingers safely around hers. Ritsu resolved to continue her way to the music room with the guitarist, as she owed the others at the very least an explanation. As they ascended the stairs Ritsu noticed Yui's grip on her hand was… lighter than it had been before, and her face still had worry written all over it. She tightened her grip on Yui's hand, refusing to believe she would ever let it go; for fear that she would never get it back if she did.

Thoughts of worry clouded Ritsu's mind, images of the others looks of hurt haunted her. She never wanted to hurt anybody, she hadn't meant to hurt Mio, and she hadn't meant to hurt Azusa. But she had, and she would have to live with betraying those closest to her. Or those who WERE closest to her. She briefly forgot where she was and what she was doing, as she plodded along mindlessly, following the hand pulling her along. The creaking of a door brought her to her senses, immediately after she wished it hadn't.

Hurt. It was the only thing Ritsu could see on her face. Not just her face, but Azusa's aswell. Mugi lacked her normal heart-warming smile; instead it was replaced by a look of inner sadness. Not even the rain beating down on the windows disturbed the gloom looming over the room. Yui's hand broke its grip with Ritsu's and took a seat next to Azusa. The younger girl shifted away from Yui, a tear welling up in her eye. Yui reached out to touch her kohai, "Azu-nyan…?" Yui quietly asked her, she couldn't muster the courage to bring her voice any louder. "Y-Yui senpai!" Azusa exclaimed as she batted Yui's hand off of her, her heart sank to her knees as she saw the pained look on Yui's face.

For a moment nobody said anything. Mio kept to herself, as did Mugi. Ritsu remained seated, trying to calm her aching mind to make an excuse to leave. Azusa and Yui sat facing against each other, not out of malice, but to avoid the sadness of seeing each other. For a moment all of them thought they would sit there in silence for eternity, luckily the storm begged a differ. A thunderous crackle startled the girls, bringing them out of their worlds of their own. Once again they all remembered where they were, and the gloom in the room increased substantially.

Mugi's worrying got the better of her as she glanced around the room. Ritsu seemed rather unfazed by the thunder, as she had learned to barricade herself in her mind when she needed to, blocking out not only outside noise but reason with it. Yui and Azusa both looked frightened, Yui looked like she was going to hug Azusa for a second, but stopped herself just before she made contact with her. Azusa was none the wiser. Mio was whimpering in her seat, usually she'd have Ritsu to cower against, to tell her everything was okay, but now she didn't. And like Ritsu, she looked miserable. Realising the situation they were in, Mugi decided to make the best of it, for if she didn't then she would fear for the future of Hokago Tea Time, "How about we get some practise in?" she joyfully asked. It was clearly faked joy, and her ever drooping smile showed it, but nevertheless the others agreed and made their way over to the usual practising spot in the corner of the room.

Everyone stiffly adjusted their instruments to their liking before getting ready to play a song. By now the rain had stopped assaulting the windows, but the sun still refused to shine through the clouds, leaving a sense of emptiness to the outside world. "How about something basic like Fuwa Fuwa Time?" Mugi suggested, hoping someone else would at least try to join in with her optimism. No one did, and lifeless nods from around the room just confirmed her theory that she was alone in this fight for optimism.

Everyone cringed as soon as the song started; there was a lack of enthusiasm from every instrument. There was no passion radiating from anyone present. One would've assumed that the blame game would've started, but instead Mugi was able to prompt them into trying again. Second time round wasn't bad, except the drums were lacking a bit of- "Ritsu-san!" the music stopped as Mio turned around to face the expressionless drummer.

It took a second for Ritsu to realise her attention was required, "H-huh?" Ritsu absentmindedly asked, still not fully awake, "Your drumming was too slow." Mio irritably said. The use of the insultingly formal honorific failed to register in Ritsu's wandering mind, "Sorry Mi-" Ritsu was cut off before she could finish, "It's a little too late for sorry's don't you think?" Mio hissed. Ritsu looked down at the floor aimlessly once again, Mugi noticed the hurt laced on Ritsu's face and decided to bring the mood back up again with her powers of speech. The band once again started playing, Mugi sighed a heavy sigh, at this point it was getting rather tiring to stay upbeat.

The band once again started playing, the instruments were in sync and it was a fairly steady beat. All except the bass, which was speeding ahead at times. The other members of HTT thought it was best to avoid pointing this out to the clearly angered bassist. Eventually Yui decided to speak up, as the bass had sped ahead so many times it had become nearly impossible to play or keep up with.

"Mio-chan" Yui asked hesitantly, reaching her arm out to the determined yet distressed Mio. Mio didn't even flinch at Yui's hand finding home on her shoulder, she instead took a deep breath and spoke, "Get your hand off me." Mio's words cut through Yui like a knife as she quickly withdrew her hand. Although Mio came across harsh and tough, Ritsu could tell that she was on the verge of tears beneath that glare.

Concerned glances were exchanged around the room as Mio stood there, still as a statue. Although the feeling of concern was mutual, each face portrayed a different emotion: Ritsu with her inner sadness, Yui with her distress, Azusa with her dejection and Mugi with her fear. For a few moments everything was still minus the glances of HTT, and then Mio spoke, it was little less than a whisper, "let's go again." At this Ritsu raised her sticks in the air, hit them together twice with a less than energetic count down and collapsed onto the floor before the song could start.

The fall did not go unnoticed and Yui rushed to Ritsu's aid. Yui's eyes puzzled over the drummers body, trying to find a source of the problem, Ritsu lay near still, with a few tears streaming down her cheeks. The truth was that Ritsu just couldn't take it anymore, being around Mio was making it all come back, well more than usual, and the weight of it all had caused a headache worse than she had ever had before. Mio approached the quivering guitarist and took a look at Ritsu. "Get up; we have a song to play." Mio said, her previous confidence and bitterness had returned. Yui looked up at her, seemingly in disbelief at the insensitivity of her friend. Yui looked away from Mio and whispered "Don't be mean to Rit-chan." Mio's eyebrows formed a scowl as she stared at Yui. "You don't know the full picture, what I went through…" Mio said, regret flooding through her.

"Rit-chan didn't mean to do those things!" Yui exclaimed in childish rage as she stood up and leaned over to close the distance between herself and Mio. They stared each other down before Mio spoke. "You weren't there; you don't know how much of a bitch she is." Mio retorted. The words hurt her as they came out of her mouth. At this Yui pushed Mio, enough to startle her but not enough to push her over. Mio stumbled before catching herself and glared at Yui. Before the bassist could engage Yui another figure rose and came between them.

"Please stop fighting senpais!" Azusa shouted, her eyes closed tight and her hands out to either side, trying to ward them both of off each other. Her knees began to falter as the girls on either side of her started yelling at each other, hurling insults over the poor rhythm guitarist's head. Azusa didn't know what to do, she couldn't calm them down, she could only stop them for so long, she felt as if the weight of the world was bearing on her shoulders.

Meanwhile Mugi leaned over Ritsu, unsure of what to do to help the girl. Mugi could barely help herself here, she was in no position to help Ritsu, she resorted to stroking Ritsu's head to keep her from getting too distressed by the quarrelling. Mugi's hand had barely touched Ritsu's forehead before Ritsu whispered "m-Mio…chan" under her breath. Her eyes were still locked closed and she still wasn't moving much, Mugi didn't know what to make of it. "Are you okay, Rit-chan?" Mugi asked her, unsure of what her reaction would be.

Ritsu stirred before pushing herself off the ground; limb by limb she got up, much to Mugi's disbelief. She stumbled along before she reached Yui's side. Ritsu opened her eyes to see Azusa crying as she stood between a screaming Mio and a shouting, teary Yui. Yui was far too engrossed in yelling to notice Ritsu, but alas Ritsu pressed on to Azusa's side, the kohai looked up and met Ritsu's tired eyes, Azusa noticed a lack of life and emotion in the usually joyful drummer. And that frightened her more than any horror movie ever could. Ritsu then approached her target; she stood before Mio, unnoticed by her as she continued to holler at Yui, at this point the screaming from both parties was just gibberish, regretful, sad gibberish. Ritsu walked between Azusa and Mio, she looked Mio directly in the eye, Mio's attention shifted to the drummer in front of her, Ritsu's worn eyes tearing deep into her soul. Mio stopped shouting and clutched herself, unsure of how to react to the slow but sudden intrusion of Ritsu. All eyes in the room rested on Ritsu.

"Mio… STOP YELLING AT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Ritsu exclaimed, her eyes jumped to life, as with her body, she lunged at Mio, toppling the girl over, before anyone could react Ritsu ran out of the room, not bothering to acknowledge anyone shouting her name or begging for her to stay. She darted between people, unfazed by the angry shouts of people she was inconveniencing by unexpectedly running past or through them. Thoughts plagued Ritsu's fragile mind as she tried to escape from reality through mere running. She knew running wouldn't save her, she knew she had to face her fears, but she knew her fears would break her, or break the remnants of what was once Tainaka Ritsu.

Houses whizzed past Ritsu's blurred vision, the tears not entirely covering her eyes so she could barely see where she was going. Eventually she laid eyes on a familiar house. Her House. She began to make her way there, not thinking about any of the consequences of her previous actions, she couldn't of stayed at school, she just couldn't. Maybe her bed will give her solitude when no one else will, not that she deserves it for ruinin… r-ruining Mio's life… No. She wouldn't let her thoughts get that bad, she had to show some restraint. But despite her efforts the tears still streamed down her cheeks as she continued towards the front door, failing any attempt to keep herself together and retain what little self-worth she had left.

Satoshi lay on the sofa, blissfully watching TV as his sister stumbled through the front door. "Hey 'nee-cha…" Satoshi found himself lost for words at his sister's blotchy face and defeated look; it hurt him deeply to see Ritsu in such a rut. Before he could speak up she was already up the stairs and had locked herself in her room. Satoshi got up and made his way across the living room and ascended up the stairs. _Something BAD must have happened for 'nee-chan to react like this, I wonder if it has anything to do with Mio-san._ Satoshi could but wander what had brought his sister so low, for he knew Ritsu would never talk to him about it; she would never talk to anyone about it. Pride was a real bitch sometimes.

Quiet sobbing met Satoshi as he approached Ritsu's room. He knocked on the door, "'Nee-chan, can I come in?" Satoshi gently asked, there was no change in response, crying still greeted his ears, and he hated it. He would leave her in there, and then come back with dinner, hopefully he can bait Ritsu out with food, if not… He didn't know what he would do.

_Why did I go back? I shouldn't of gone back, then everyone would've been happier!_ Pain. It was the one thing Ritsu felt, not physical pain that she could bear after years of head hitting from Mio, emotional pain. The pain we all really fear. The pain that digs deeper than any knife can. Ritsu knew this feeling all too well. There was only so much a girl can take, and Ritsu hit her limit long ago.

Ritsu lifted her head from her pillow and stared at the tear stained bed beneath her, she had cried those tears and many, many more. She was weak, she didn't deserve anyone. Ritsu suddenly let out a scream of agony, it had finally become too much for her. She couldn't live with it anymore. Her fists hit the walls until they bled, she smashed whatever she could find, and her beloved drum-set wasn't spared as she drove a pencil through the snare. Anything to distract her mind from the pain of it all. Belongings flew around the room left and right, Ritsu didn't know what she was doing anymore, she was throwing everything she owned, her collection of manga, her drumsticks, her videogames, everything hit the wall, and few belongings survived the hit. Eventually Ritsu stood in the middle of what looked to be a bomb site; she had destroyed so much in a fit of anger fuelled by sadness. Ritsu slumped down on the floor and sobbed, she had done so much irreversible stuff to people, now she had done likewise with her room, what was she turning into? A look at her blooded hands gave her the answer.

A monster.

"Satoshi, please bring this up to your sister," Satoshi took the tray with noodles on it out of his mother's oven mitted hands and into his own. "Yes mom." Satoshi noticed his mom's distressed look, she had surely heard all the commotion from Ritsu's room, no doubt about it, but it looked like she was more scared than anything else. He couldn't put his finger on whether she was scared of Ritsu hurting herself, or scared of what Ritsu might do to others while in this state.

Satoshi made his way past the living room and up the stairs, sobbing no longer greeted him as he neared the room, a sense of fragile peace was looming in the air. _The calm after the storm most likely. _Satoshi gently knocked on Ritsu's door, "'Nee-chan?" he gently asked from behind the locked door. No answer greeted him, so he decided to ask again. "'Nee-chan, is everything okay?" Silence. Then right before Satoshi was about to leave a small voice replied "not now Satoshi." They were barely audible, but they still distressed him greatly. "Your dinner is out here 'nee-chan, come and get it when you're ready. Its noodles though, so don't leave it too long." Satoshi put the tray outside the still locked door and turned to make his way back downstairs. "Love you, 'nee-chan." Satoshi called from over his shoulder. No reply came.

It hurt, not just the bleeding from her knuckles, the pain of everything, _Why couldn't I have just died before I met her, then everyone would've been much better off._ A phone buzz interrupted Ritsu's self-loathing; she slowly dragged herself towards her phone. Her knuckles screamed in pain as she picked up the phone, she could bear the pain… She can bear it for now, it might be Yui texting her to tell her it was over, then she would have closure, and could die knowing that she had driven the last person who loved her away.

"Want to go on a date tomorrow at 3:00 at the ice cream parlour?"

Ritsu blinked in disbelief a few times before re reading the text. She had read it right; Yui was asking her if she wanted to go on a date. Yui wasn't mad for all the disruption she had caused? How could that be so? Ritsu wiped some tears away from her eyes, a spark of hope flared up in her. Maybe she was worth it; maybe Yui would love her no matter what. No, nobody could love her like that; no sane human being could love Tainaka Ritsu.

Ritsu put the phone down on the floor, as the tables in her room had all since been smashed or broken. The drummer put a hand on her head as the headache from earlier resurfaced. She couldn't pass out now, If she didn't respond to Yui, then she'd think Ritsu didn't want to go on a date, and that maybe Yui would think Ritsu didn't love her anymore. Then Ritsu would have nothing. But Yui didn't really love her… Did she? She had said she did so many times, why couldn't Ritsu just accept it? Ritsu let out a scream of anger at her unjustifiable distrust and kicked a broken bass drum. The impact caused her to fall back and curse in pain from the pain. She gathered herself and got up and cast a glance over to her phone. She approached the phone and picked it up; upon looking again she saw Yui had put love hearts at the end of her text. The sign of affection made Ritsu feel strange inside, like she was getting something she didn't deserve.

_No, I can't pass this up, if I do, who knows how much worse I'll get…_

"Ok." It was a simple response, but almost as soon as she replied Yui sent her another text back, "Yay! See you then, love you Rit-chan!" Ritsu took one look at the text, and collapsed under the weight of her headache. _Tommorow's the day… Tommorow's the day we find out whether she really loves me…_


	5. Chapter 5: Sweet turned Sour

**A/N: **Sorry if this one isn't exactly one of my best, i wanted to get this out before i go on a 2 week holiday, anyway no idea what i'm doing for the next chapter, i currently have plans for the endings, so everything imbetween im writing on the spot. also the next chapter might take a little longer to come out than this one because of my upcoming holiday (but definitely not as long as the wait between chapters 3 and 4)

anyway same as usual, if you enjoyed drop a follow, and a review would help a ton, i take all reviews into account. Thanks and enjoy

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Chapter 5: Sweet turned Sour

The all-encompassing darkness, it's all Ritsu saw when she awoke. The blinds attached to her windows blocking out all that was good and bright in the world. Hence she was left with nothing but the sadness and emptiness that came with the dark. She groggily sat up and recoiled as the negative thoughts took less than a few seconds to catch up with her. Before she knew it tears were already flowing down her cheeks. She paid them no attention, as it was quite common for her to cry without really noticing or caring about it. She squinted a few times and got up and stumbled over to the door and unlocked it, took a peek out the room at the clock in the hallway and closed the door. _1pm, if I'm gonna meet up with Yui I better get ready._ Ritsu thought to herself. She surveyed the destruction from last night that she had laid upon her room. Not even her most precious and prized mangas had been spared, not that that particularly annoyed her as much as. The club meeting yesterday…

Azusa's small and quivering body flashed in Ritsu's retina as she tried to make sense of anything that happened yesterday. It was all coming back, piece by piece, word by word, she was remembering it all. _"You don't know how much of a bitch she is" _Ritsu recoiled, it was only 3 months ago she wouldn't of ever of dreamed of Mio ever describing her that way,_ "Ritsu-san" _No more, she didn't want to remember anymore, Mio still hated her, that was all she cared about. _Why does she hate me? Oh god, I wish she still loved me_. Ritsu put her head in her hands and wiped away the tears, she made a futile attempt to stop them flowing, but it was as if her tear ducts had a mind of their own, as they refused, and the tears continued falling. She then suddenly noticed another presence behind her.

"'Nee-chan?"

She hadn't locked the door when she shut it after checking the clock, _why hadn't I done that, they're going to see what I've done_… Ritsu slightly turned her head just enough to see Satoshi, there was worry riddled all over his face, his hands were clenched in fear and worry. What had she done? What would Satoshi think of her now? What will her parents think? There were too many questions, and not nearly enough answers.

"Get out of my room Satoshi." Ritsu quietly said, she was a volcano ready to erupt, but she couldn't do it to Satoshi, he was her brother and… "But 'nee-chan-" Ritsu gave him no chance to put across what he was about to say as she went back on her previous thought "OUT OF MY ROOM!" Before the words had even finished leaving Ritsu's mouth Satoshi had bolted out of his sister's room. He'd never heard her shout like that before, he had to get to the bottom of this, otherwise Ritsu would never get better. Meanwhile Ritsu stood there, unable to comprehend what she had just done, she had yelled at her younger brother. It wasn't even him she was agitated about, it was…Mio…

Before the negative thoughts could reorganise themselves she bolted out the door of her room, not bothering to lock it as Satoshi had already seen it and exited out of the front door, almost knocking Satoshi over while doing so. She sprinted down the street, she successfully avoided looking at _her_ house while doing so, but doing so didn't completely stop the thoughts from returning. Eventually thoughts weren't the only thing causing her pain, hunger pains kicked in as she realised she had not only not had dinner the previous night, but had also not had breakfast today. She stopped to catch her breath as a stitch formed in her stomach, it was common knowledge one had to run through a stitch to make it leave, but the hunger in her stomach wouldn't let her do so. After a few minutes rest she continued on her journey, sprinting all the way to the ice cream shop where she spotted who she was looking for.

Yui was worried, more than worried. She was scared. Ritsu hadn't been herself since, well since the whole thing with Mio, or at least she thought that was it was, maybe it was since the guitarist had started dating her. Was she causing all of Ritsu's problems? No, Mugi had told her she had a rough fight with Mio when they broke up, it was Mio, of course it was Mio. But what if it wasn't?

Yui's mind was unable to find an answer as the appearance of a certain tawny haired brunette interrupted her thought process. "Hey Yui." Ritsu casually said as she approached her girlfriend, Yui spun round to greet her with a huge smile on her face, "Rit-chan!" Luckily Yui forgot about her previous thoughts for the time being. All that mattered now was Ritsu was here, and she loved Ritsu. That's all that mattered.

After the two embraced they entered the Ice cream parlour. Ritsu noticed that Yui didn't reach down to grab her hand and considered taking Yui's own in hers, but she didn't want to make the airhead uncomfortable, so she thought better of it. The truth was Yui had simply forgotten Ritsu was there as she stared at the multitude of flavours she would be able to choose from. Ritsu dug around in her pocket for some change she might have left on her, as she forgot to grab money earlier. A look of distress came onto her face, not because all she could scrape out of her pockets was 20 yen, but because of the reason why she didn't have any money. Satoshi's horrified face flickered in her vision, and she found herself feeling dizzy.

"Rit-chan! We have to try this flavour!" Ritsu was brought out of her unfocused state as she focused on Yui. Yui was pointing to a new coconut flavour that advertised to have never been made before and was unique to this specific ice cream parlour. Accompanying Yui's excited manor was an excited look, the same one you might see on a child on Christmas morning. Ritsu was about to explain that she didn't have any money but Yui explained she'd cover the cost of her ice cream before she even got a chance to.

After they had both ordered their ice creams, they both sat down at a table. Ritsu was thinking of something away from the crowd as the opening of a new store had drawn in quite a bit of attention, but Yui insisted they stayed in the store, as she wanted to be able to go and get seconds after she finished her current ice cream. Ritsu gave in and sat down on a table still relatively close to the corner of the parlour, but was still a window seat. Yui joined her after getting their ice creams.

Ritsu ordered the coconut flavour, the same on as Yui had, as the guitarist seemed to have special powers with cakes and sweets of the sorts, so Ritsu always trusted her opinion. Yui handed Ritsu her ice cream and seated herself across from her, they both begun digging into their ice creams. Unbeknownst to Yui, Ritsu was watching her every move, trying to comprehend what Yui was feeling at the very moment_. What is she feeling? Is it uncomfortablility? Stress? Awkwardness?_

No, it was none of those emotions; instead she was just enjoying her ice cream. The look of glee on her face clearly a result of that. Although she seemed awfully relaxed, more than usual, was that a result of the drummer's presence? There was no way to be sure, but Ritsu's mind wouldn't let her believe that. _Maybe I can test that by seeing whether she tenses up when I talk to her._

"So Yui, how have you been doing?" Ritsu asked. There was a hint of worry in her voice that she failed to hide; luckily Yui was none the wiser.

"I've been pretty good, Rit-chan. I've recently began watching a TV program about animals." Yui exclaimed, she returned her ice cream to her mouth once she finished talking. Ritsu didn't notice a change in her behaviour, so she decided to press on with the conversation.

"What do the animals do?"

"Oh it's great Rit-chan! The animals are mixed together and you see how they react with each other!" Yui explained, Ritsu didn't even need to feign interest, as this show had now peaked her curiosity.

For the next half an hour the pair shared a conversation about the show Yui was watching, Ritsu learned that gorillas and deer don't get on as well as some may have thought. Ritsu also learned that Yui can watch TV for more than eight hours straight if something interests her, although this wasn't too much of a surprise to the drummer considering it was _Yui _she was talking about. But that's just the thing; she was talking to Yui perfectly normally, something that wasn't her intent when she started the conversation. Yui didn't seem distressed or anxious while talking to Ritsu, she seemed rather… At peace._ Maybe… Maybe she does genuinely like me._

A rustle in the bushes nearby took Ritsu out of her conversation with Yui as she saw a twin pig tailed head peek out from a bush nearby.

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"Jun-chan, quiet or they'll hear us!" Ui scolded her friend for being too loud. Jun pouted and replied "Well I don't even know why Azusa dragged us out here, so why should I care?"

"You should care because she's your friend and we are trying to help her." Ui insisted, frankly she wasn't sure why Azusa had asked Jun to come along, sure, she liked Jun as much as the next person, but sometimes she was a little more than insensitive.

Azusa turned from peering over the bush and whispered "Quiet, both of you or the senpais will hear us."

Ui nodded determinedly while a knowing smile appeared on Jun's face.

"So this is something to do with your precious senpais, Azusa-chan?" Jun condescendingly asked her, Azusa turned to face her, a look of annoyance on her face.

"Maybe…" The annoyance on Azusa's face subsided and instead was replaced by one of worry and fear, "I just want to know what's going on in there."

"In the Ice cream parlour? What does that have to do with the Light Music Club?" Jun asked, she had come all the way over here expecting Ice Cream but instead they were stalking their seniors. The least she expected was an explanation, unfortunately her expectations were not met.

"I just want to know what they're up to," Azusa replied absentmindedly as she turned around to take another peek at the ice cream store. Jun was less than satisfied with the response, but decided better than to insist for an answer. Before she was able to change her mind and nag Azusa for a better explanation the head of a tawny haired brunette appeared over the bush.

"Azusa?" Ritsu asked carefully, wondering why her kohai would be spying on her. Azusa jumped and was quick to respond, "Senpai! I-I was…was just… Scouting out the ice cream parlour, to see what it was like in there." Azusa's eyes shifted over to the person now standing beside Ritsu, "Yui-senpai?" The girl seemed to weaken at seeing her beloved senpai; she then straightened herself out and continued.

"So, what were you doing here with Yui senpai, Ritsu senpai?" She asked. She knew the answer, she knew she wouldn't like it, but she needed closure.

"We're here on a date, Azu-nyan!" Yui exclaimed, a small twinkle in her eye. She accompanied saying this with grabbing Ritsu's hand, almost trying to make it official or something like that. Ritsu looked on, dumbfounded, had Yui really just spilled the beans that easily_? Did she not think about the consequences of what she says?_

"Ui-chan, did you know about this?" Jun whispered over to Ui. Ui was quick to reply "I didn't know, Onee-chan normally shares everything with me…" attempting to change the subject, Jun decided to make a bit of small talk with the couple infront of them. "So Ritsu-san, where's your hairband?"

No answer ever greeted Jun, as Ritsu, like everyone else around her, was preoccupied. Ritsu scanned Azusa's face for a second, it showed Hurt, dejection and loss. The small girl tried to keep herself together; she stumbled back slightly, trying not to show any of the emotions she felt to Yui. _It… It's her choice who she wants to date, I…I…_ "Azu-nyan?"

"How can you still call me that, Senpai!" Azusa exclaimed, the tears now freely falling down her cheeks. Every eye turned towards the trembling guitarist, she refused to meet anyone's gaze. Her gaze instead shifted to her senpai's linked hands. An overwhelming feeling of betrayal came over her. She quickly debated whether to voice her feelings or leave them for another time. Unfortunately she chose the prior.

"That should be my hand." Azusa quietly said under her breath.

"Can you repeat that, Azu-nyan?" Yui softly asked her. Yui reached out and put a reassuring hand on Azusa's shoulder. Neither girl was prepared for the shouting that came next.

Azusa's feelings boiled over as she batted Yui's hand off of her and begun letting her emotions run loose, "That should be my hand linked with yours! Ritsu-senpai was happy with Mio-senpai and I was going to be with you! But now Ritsu-senpai has ruined everything and…a-and… I've been left behind and alone!" Azusa's outburst caused nervous looks to be exchanged between everyone besides two. Yui's heart had broken in half as the severity of the situation dawned on her. Ritsu felt a heavy feeling on her heart. She had stolen Yui from Azusa, she had betrayed the band's beloved Kohai. Tears begun welling in Ritsu's eyes as guilt washed over her. Ritsu took to her feet, fleeing to try and escape the guilt. Yui was quick was run after her while Jun and Ui stayed back with Azusa. Ui watched until Yui was out of sight, as much as she wanted to help her sister, she was needed here with Azusa.

Ui and Jun exchanged looks. Jun looked helpless and frightened, so Ui decided to take the lead. Mustering up all her strength, Ui put a reassuring hand on Azusa, "It'll be okay Azusa-chan." Azusa turned around and glared at her, "Not until I have Yui senpai."

"Can you tell me something, Ui?" Azusa asked, sniffling and wiping some tears away from her eyes with her sleeve. Ui frowned and answered determinedly "Of course, anything Azusa-chan!" Azusa took a deep breath before responding.

"Am I still her kitty?"

"Rit-chan!" Yui called into the endless crowds. Yui saw swathes of people moving to and fro, trying to make their way past the never ending crowds. Yui saw people barge past each other, mentally deeming their destination important enough to forget about their manners. Yui unfortunately became a victim of this as Yui was knocked onto the floor by a teen in a hoodie. Sharp pains echoed through her veins as she lay sprawled out on the pavement. Just through the seemingly endless crowd she spotted a brunette in a black shirt speed walking down the street.

Yui scrambled to her feet and called out for her girlfriend. Ritsu turned slightly and Yui saw how bad it was. Ritsu's face showed agony, it was stained with tears guilt, Yui moved to approach Ritsu. Ritsu in return backed away from Yui, not as one would from a contagious person, as one would from someone scared she was scared she would hurt. Ritsu's backing away turned to a run as she sprinted down the street away from her.

_Home, I can go… No, that's where they are. I can't have them see me like this again. Somewhere safe, somewhere to hide…_ Ritsu's search for a safespace was cut short when she spotted a single public bathroom built into the side of a wall. A quick glance to the lock indicator told her that the toilet was fortunately open, Ritsu grabbed the handle, opened the door ajar and slipped in and closed the door behind her. This time she made sure to lock the door; she didn't want a repeat of this morning on top of everything else that had happened today.

The first thing that hit her was the smell, the smell of rotting faeces, her eyes then made out the urine on the floor and the graffiti on the walls. She stumbled forwards and sat herself on the closed toilet. She buried her face in her hands as the thoughts begun to set in. _Why did I do that, it was all good, then Azusa came and… she ruined it a-and… No I ruined it because I dated Yui when Azusa wanted to, now Yui likes me and not Azusa and…and… I want Mio, but Yui is all I've got_…

A knock on the door interrupted Ritsu's thought process, she ignored it, she had more important things to think about; whether she wanted to or not. The brunette didn't want to think about them, but she had to, if she didn't they would tear her apart more than actually thinking about them would. Ritsu descended back into her lonely thoughts, as she didn't have the energy to wade them off any longer. As the drummer did something awful occurred to her. She had not only betrayed Azusa, but Yui aswell by ditching her. Why had she done that, why couldn't she just be normal and of stood up for herself, it was Yui's choice who she wanted to love.

_But deep down, Yui still loves Azusa_

With that thought she hit the side of the bathroom wall with full force, the second her hand made contact with it she reeled it back and screamed in pain. Fresh blood oozed from the wound which had already been inflicted there last night, now the night before was coming back to her. Now the day before, the night before that... Ritsu sunk to the floor clenching her fist and keeled over. She wanted to shout for help, but she didn't believe she deserved it, so she didn't and laid in anguish on the bathroom floor as a result.

A folded piece of paper inserted itself under the door. It was only then that Ritsu was brought back to reality. She slowly and carefully sat up and reached out with her in-tact unsteady hand to pick up the paper. She contemplated what would be on it. Had someone heard her scream? Surely they wouldn't complain via a piece of paper, maybe it was from someone she knew, maybe it was from…

Ritsu fondled with the paper until she managed to unfold it. She braced herself and begun to read it.

"I'm going home, see you another time

\- Love, Yui"

Ritsu almost jumped up off the bathroom floor to fondle with the lock to the door. After much longer than it should have taken she managed to unlock it and thrusted the door open, she kept a loose grip on the note from Yui in her injured hand. She frantically looked around, trying to spot the guitarist. She scanned countless faces, trying at all costs to locate her girlfriend. Her search heeded no results as Ritsu sunk to the ground in defeat. She sat there on her knees and let out a small whimper.

"Yui…" Her voice was lost with the wind...

"Help me…"


	6. Chapter 6: On my way

**A/N: **Sorry for the wait, hopefully this lives up to expectations. Huge thanks to Sir Byronn for proofreading and revising this chapter and the previous 2 chapters aswell, hes got a few k-on fanfics that are pretty epic, you should check those out too. Anyway no idea when the next chapter is coming, probably in a month or so. Same as always, reviews are massively appreciated and so are follows. Enjoy the story.

Chapter 6: On my way

* * *

Yui checked Ritsu's heart monitor again, it was beeping as it always had. The routinely beeps gave her a sense of comfort that despite everything, the drummer was still alive. Ritsu wasn't in danger of losing her life at any rate, the airhead was just overreacting, but it was an unfamiliar situation for her, so she wasn't sure how to think and make ends of things. Sure Ritsu didn't have any major injuries, well excluding her broken hand, but she had a hell of a lot of mental ones. Yui glanced up at the sign in the hallway that read "Mental ward" then back down at Ritsu. She was breathing softly in her sleep; from time to time she would scrunch up her face as if in pain or hurt and then return to normal. Whenever this happened Yui would be quick to squeeze her hand to hopefully lessen Ritsu's nightmares.

It seemed like only a few hours ago Yui had spotted Ritsu crouched down on the street, crying and gripping her broken hand. If it wasn't for Yui's "friends are in trouble" spider senses then who knows what would've happened to Ritsu if she went unattended in that state. Yui had come back over and had pretty much dragged her to the hospital. Sure, calling an ambulance might have helped, but it might've taken too long, and Ritsu might have done something worse to herself in that time.

The looks Yui had gotten from the hospital staff were more than surprised as they witnessed a high schooler literally _dragging _another high schooler through the main entrance. As she entered the Hospital workers took Ritsu out of the poor girls hands and took her to instant care, she had since been moved to the mental ward, where she rested ever since.

Yui had spent most of her time here by Ritsu's side, nobody else had come to see her besides Satoshi, not even her own mother and father had come. Satoshi wouldn't share why when he was there alone, but Yui knew that something bad must've happened at home between Ritsu and her parents to put them off coming to see their injured daughter.

Ritsu drifted in and out of sleep, she tended to be very silent when awake, staring directly in front of her. Attempting to make conversation was often fruitless as she rarely responded and favoured silence over anything else. Yui wanted to help her, and tried to many times, whether it be through giving her a reassuring hug or stroking her head. Ritsu did little to react to anything. A broken soul was a devastating thing.

Time passed slowly as Yui staved off boredom by staring at Ritsu and occasionally rubbing her fingers against Ritsu's hand. People darted back and forth outside, tending to whoever needed help, eventually a doctor came in and ushered Yui out, claiming he had to do some tests on Ritsu to see whether she was mentally healthy enough to return to everyday life. With reluctance Yui let go of Ritsu's hand and instantly saw her face tense up and her fingers grab the air in search of reassurance. The guitarist made her way steadily out of the room and into the bleak corridor outside, once the double doors had closed behind her Yui looked over and saw a familiar face.

A raven haired girl was standing at the end of the corridor, face ridden with worry and sadness. She held her hands together tight, trying to keep herself together. Behind her a blonde girl stood idly by, offering the raven haired girl silent moral support. The raven haired girl took a step forward, shuddered and stepped back two paces. Internal conflict found its way into her and she broke off and sprinted away back down the hospital corridor, the blonde girl chasing after her all the way. Yui contemplated relaying the bassist and keyboardist's sudden arrival and departure, but decided against it, the last thing Ritsu needed was more things to worry about.

After disregarding the event she sat down in the waiting room, understandably she couldn't get Ritsu off her mind. She didn't even fully know what was wrong with her, why she did these things to herself, why she thought things she did. Yui just couldn't get her head around it. Her inner discussion from the ice cream parlour began to come back to her.

_Am I causing all her pain? _Yui mused, with that thought she looked down at her hands and clenched them into a fist.

_No, And I'm gonna help her get through this, no matter what_.

Yui's attention was diverted back to the doors to the ward that Ritsu was in, the doctor from before walked out in quite a hurry, looking rather dissatisfied and annoyed while doing so. Yui jumped from her seat and chased after him; eventually she caught up with him and tugged on his coat to get his attention. He turned to face her, his face looked worn and irritable, nevertheless Yui pried for answers, "Is Rit-chan okay?" Yui asked the doctor, he took a second to straighten out his glasses before he responded. "She's fine, her hand will recover in a few weeks, take her back home. The real problem is her mental health, be nice and reassure her and she'll be alright. Now if you don't mind I have some people with actual injuries to attend to." And with that he hurried off.

Yui made her way back into the urgent care room and set her eyes upon Ritsu. She was sitting up, holding two empty syringes in her hands. She stared at them intently, almost beckoning them for an answer to some grand unknown question. Eventually she tapped one onto her bedpan, which was now sitting on her lap. Then she tapped the other, and then begun periodically tapping the bedpan with the syringes. Tapping turned into hitting and hitting turned into drumming. Yui recognised the eight beat she was playing and looked round to grab her guitar. Unfortunately it occurred to her that Giita wasn't with her at that very moment; in fact she hadn't played him in a while. The band hadn't played together for a while, what was happening to Houkago Tea time?

Yui disregarded the question as she sat down next to Ritsu, a small smile evident on her face as she hit the bedpans, once Yui took her seat she glanced up at the guitarist and gave her a small smile. Yui returned it with an ever widening one as she pounced on Ritsu in a hug much alike she had given her on that fateful night when she had first confessed her love to Ritsu. Ritsu responded with a small giggle and a playful "Yui!" as she hugged the guitarist back and buried her head into Yui's shoulders.

* * *

"Mio-chan, you can't keep running away from your problems." Mugi insisted, hopefully this time her words wouldn't be disregarded as soon as they left her mouth.

"It's not like that Mugi," Mio quietly replied.

Mugi sighed and leaned back into the sofa. She was currently at Mio's house in her room, comforting Mio after her visit to the hospital. She thought it would've been the salvation of the club if Mio were to make up with Ritsu by seeing her in her time of need. Unfortunately the bassist didn't have the guts to see Ritsu, and now that had led to this situation.

Mugi leaned back further into the sofa

_If everyone in the Light Music Club could be together with the right people, then everything should be fine!_

Mugi absentmindedly smiled to herself, maybe she could fix everything. But it was never that simple, was it. Who was right for one another? Who even _knew _who they liked for sure, who knew how Mio felt about Ritsu now, did she still love her?

_Maybe I can coax an answer out of her…_

"Mio-chan" Mugi gently asked her, Mio looked up to Mugi with tired, droopy eyes; the hospital scene had taken a little more than a toll on her. Mio's glare tore right through Mugi, suddenly the blonde felt intimidated and backed out of her prior plan, "S-so, did you enjoy the sport game last night!?" Mugi managed to exclaim off the top of her head.

Unfortunately Mio's hidden obsession with sports hadn't been at the forefront of Mugi's mind. Mio began to piece herself together in an effort to tell Mugi about the American football game she had watched the night before. At first Mugi scolded herself for not having the guts to ask Mio something serious, but on the other hand Mio was opening up now, so all wasn't lost. Mugi sat there quietly and patiently as Mio rambled on about sports, she even managed to get herself worked up at points over tense moments in the match. Eventually both of them were giggling together, chatting about school and fashion and their hair. After the light chit chat Mugi moved the conversation to a more serious matter.

"Mio-chan?" Mugi asked her.

Mio looked the keyboardist in the eye with a confident smile, "Yes Mugi?"

Mugi took a breath before answering, "Do you still like Rit-chan?"

Silence echoed through the room as soon as Mugi's question resonated in Mio's mind. To be truthful, Mio didn't even know how she felt about Ritsu anymore. Their breakup had been rough, well, rough was an understatement. It had been awful, but was Ritsu entirely to blame? She didn't know anymore, all she knew was that she missed her Knight in shining armour, she still hated her, but there was a hole in her heart even Mugi's most heart-warming smile couldn't fill.

"I don't really know," Mio said, her eyes staring at her feet, she couldn't see Mugi, but she knew she wanted a better answer. Mio took a deep breath and continued, "A part of me wants Ritsu back, but I'm not sure how to find out if this is the right thing or not."

Mugi's eyes brightened up at this, all hope wasn't lost! Mio still somewhat wanted to see Ritsu again, to make up with her. Maybe getting them back together would be a push but if they could at least be friends again, it would be a fantastic step in the right direction. Mugi decided to take advantage of Mio's current feelings on Ritsu.

"So you wouldn't mind joining me and the others at a sleepover at school before the summer festival then? Mugi pressed, Mio looked hesitant for a second before giving a shy nod. A determined smile spread across Mugi's face. _Time to fix all this!_

* * *

Azusa slumped back into the armchair she was sitting in. Frankly she was tired of Jun's nonsense, and she really wished she'd just go home. Azusa turned her attention to Ui, who was trying to reassure her, the younger Hirasawa was trying her best, but it was hopeless. She wanted, no. she _needed _Yui in her life. No one could convince her otherwise, not even the sister of her soul mate. Nevertheless Ui and Jun were here in her house to try and convince her otherwise and both were failing miserably. Azusa appreciated Ui's efforts at the very least, but Jun wasn't even doing the very least. She just wanted to be left alone.

"But Azusa-chan, there are plenty more people out there." Ui beamed at her. Ui's smile made no shift in the small guitarist's mood, as she sank further into the armchair in response. Ui, in a moment of desperation, got up and ventured her way over the messy room to Jun, who was reading one of the mangas laid out on the floor.

"Jun-chan?" Ui asked, putting a hand on Jun's shoulder, Jun spun around and looked at Ui dead on, desperation written all over her face. Ui was suddenly unnerved and started wondering whether she would have another insecure second year to comfort.

"Ui!" Jun pleaded, Ui didn't even know what Jun would say but she knew it would be important; she bent down and put a hand on her friends shoulder. Jun looked up at Ui and whispered, "Ui… Where is the second volume of this manga?" She exclaimed. Ui drew her hand back and her face changed into a frown not often seen upon her face. Ui simply could not fathom the selfishness of the bassist sitting across from her. Before she got a chance to tell off Jun, another voice perked up from behind them.

"Jun!" Azusa yelled, both heads turned around to see her, Jun looked momentarily stunned but she soon found herself. Before she could compose a sentence in response Azusa was already yelling again, "Stop being so goddamn selfish! W-why can't you think of someone else!?" Azusa stood tall, but at the expense of this she was quivering, and her legs threatened to give way. "I…" Her lip quivered, "I hate you Jun!"

Jun's previous look of surprise flickered before changing to hurt. A rare sight to see on the usually cocky bassist, but her insensitivity had never had consequences before. The unfamiliar hostility towards her made her blood boil, and in response anger arose in her instead of the much needed remorse. Jun's hands clenched into fists as she rose to her feet and walked over to the shaking guitarist. Azusa remained steadfast and looked Jun in the eye; Jun proceeded to lean over the smaller girl, scowling at her while doing so.

Eventually Azusa had had enough, and lunged forwards and thrust her head into Jun's torso, before she knew it she was on the ground laying on top of her so called friend. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Jun landed the first hit into Azusa's stomach, causing her to keel over. Jun then proceeded to jump on the already helpless guitarist and claw and kick her way at her. Something snapped inside Azusa as she kicked one leg back at Jun, directly into her nose. Jun stumbled backwards and collapsed back on the floor behind Azusa, she sat up slightly, caressing her impact area. Silence swept over the room as both girls tended to their wounds, preferring to defend themselves from further damage rather than to go on the offensive.

Azusa felt something dripping down her face, it was probably tears, by this point she had accustomed to tears freely falling down her face and paid no attention to it. It was only once she saw a red droplet hit the floor beneath her that she realised she was bleeding from the mouth.

Ui looked on, unsure of how to react and who to help. Both girls needed medical attention, but which? Even more importantly, she couldn't let them fight again. Something had to be done, but what?

"Azusa-chan! Jun-chan!" Both heads spun round and were met with a determined glare from Ui. She walked over to Jun and hoisted the bassists arm over her shoulder and picked her up. She quickly explained to Azusa that she was taking Jun home and that she was disappointed in both of them. Ui opened the front door and practically dragged Jun out, Jun stole a glance at Azusa. Once their eyes met Jun focused as much malice as she could into her look, Azusa felt a sharp recoil echo through her body as the look struck through her.

Azusa thrust herself under a quilt lying on the floor for safety from the bassist's intimidating looks. No more than 5 minutes had passed since Ui's departure and Azusa was still hiding under the quilt on the floor, much like the bleeding from her lip, her mind refused to rest as she was constantly reminded of the recent scrap by the blood flowing onto the floor.

Azusa's mind begun to pick a side, one would think one's mind would automatically side with itself, unfortunately Azusa's mind defied expectations and begun mentally scolding her with unpleasant thoughts about how the others will react. What will Yui think now that her precious little kohai has made another girl bleed in a fight, what does Ui think? Will she come back, or will she side with Jun and Azusa will be cast aside once again by those she was closest to?

She just wanted to be left alone.

But she was alone right now, and it was worse. Worse than when it was in the good days, when it was just everyone being merry in the club room, Ritsu and Mio laughing together and Yui hugging her. She missed the feeling of security she got from those hugs. Sometimes it felt like she couldn't even trust herself not to self-sabotage, or to make her feel like she was worthless, or lead her in the wrong direction on purpose. Yui's hugs were a counter to that. Where she whole heartedly trusted in Yui to keep her out of harm's way and snug in her arms at the same time.

But alas those times were behind her, and Yui was with someone else now. Azusa's heart sunk, in a way all Yui's hugs seemed meaningless now that she was doing it with someone else. She isn't special. She never was special.

It was only once she heard a small bell noise that she realised how long she had been hiding under the quilt. She looked down and recoiled at the sight of the small blood pool built up from her untreated mouth wound. She carefully reached one hand out from under the covers, not daring to reveal too much of herself out of fear of another attack, mental or physical, and picked up the source of the bell noise and flipped it open.

_A text from Mugi-senpai, I wonder if she's already heard about what happened._ Azusa mused, upon realisation that the message might be Mugi condoning her, Azusa hastily read the text to confirm her suspicions.

_Things have been tense, how about an overnight band practice session to calm everyone's nerves tomorrow?_

Azusa sighed in relief; maybe this would be a good opportunity for her to reconnect with the others.

_Do they want me to reconnect with them…? No! Mugi-senpai sent me this invite, which means she wants me. And even if… If y-Yui senpai… Doesn't want me… I still have to go. For Mugi-senpai's sake… _Azusa repeated the line

"For Mugi Senpai's sake" over and over again until she had sent a reply text, agreeing to come. Now she had the whole rest of the day to think about the events that led to Jun's blood being on her living room floor.

* * *

It was a long walk home from the hospital, a long walk was a bit of an exaggeration, but any kind of walk for Ritsu these days was a long walk. Her legs ached and she just needed to sit down and be left to her own devices. Why had she denied a walking stick? She always thought walking sticks were cool, you looked like you had a bit of life experience and you could hit those you disliked with the walking stick as a bonus. Ritsu sighed, the reason she didn't have a walking stick was the girl holding her hand next to her. Yui had insisted that Ritsu "wasn't an old man" and simply didn't need a walking stick. She insisted she was trying to get Ritsu back to the "good life", whatever that meant. That walking stick would've done wonders for her physical stability, but the airhead wouldn't allow it, so here she was now, partially… Ritsu sighed again… _Completely_ relying on Yui's hand for support. A part of the drummer told her that Yui just wanted an excuse to hold her hand more, which she wasn't entirely opposed to. Ritsu turned her attention to her girlfriend, to her moderate surprise she found Yui looking directly in front of her, with a look of determination on her face. Ritsu followed Yui's gaze until she found a small crack in the pavement up ahead.

Yui kept her pace until they neared the crack in the pavement; she slowed down until she reached a complete stop in front of it. Yui suddenly let go of Ritsu's hand which caused Ritsu to stumble but find her footing. Yui dropped down onto her hands and knees and maneuverer herself over the crack, so she was on all fours above it. She sent a courageous look to Ritsu, "Cross over me, Rit-chan!" Ritsu simply blinked a few times in response and begun to simply walk around her. Yui grabbed onto one of Ritsu's heels and tugged at the drummer, begging for the tawny haired brunette to cross over her. Eventually Ritsu caved in and found herself stood behind the guitarist. Slowly she raised a foot onto Yui's hind leg, then onto her back, and eventually back onto the pavement on the other side. Yui shakily stood before flashing Ritsu a determined peace sign with her left hand. Ritsu sighed and offered Yui her hand, the guitarist took it gratefully and they continued walking in the direction of Yui's house.

A vibration in Ritsu's pocket caused her to stop and pull out of phone, the cause of the vibration had been a text from a certain Tsumugi Kotobuki. It read: _Would you be up for an overnight band practice session tomorrow night?_

"Yo Yui, would you want to have a band practice session at school tomorrow?" Ritsu asked, to be completely honest she wasn't feeling up to it herself, but as long as Yui was up for it she would go.

"Sounds like fun Rit-chan!" Yui energetically yelled, Ritsu smiled a small smile as she texted a response back to Mugi, agreeing to attend the session tomorrow.

As the pair rounded another corner Ritsu realised that she was content with how things were in that moment. There was no one else around to bother them, many of the thoughts about her and others she used to love melted away at the guitarist's touch. Once she had to say goodbye to Yui for the night everything would flood back to her, she would be left as a hollow shell of herself once again. But for now, as she trekked along the footway with her girlfriend…

Everything was right in the world.


	7. Chapter 7: With You

**A/N: **Hey, its been a while. Hopefully this was worth the wait, considering its quite a long chapter. Trust me when i say the next chapter wont take so long. Big thanks to Sir_Byronn for proofreading it. Same as always, a follow would be hugely appreciated and a review even more so. Enjoy the story

Chapter 7: With You

* * *

"Ritsu… How could you do that?" A voice asked the directionless drummer. Ritsu found herself on a white floor, surrounded by a never-ending black sky. In front of her lay a weak sobbing Mio, the source of the voice. Mio stared at Ritsu with teary eyes, the confused brunette backed away slightly as she attempted to comprehend the situation.

"D-do w..what?" she asked Mio. Before she could advance and help Mio up a hand suddenly grasped her shoulder; Ritsu spun around in alarm and was greeted by a glaring Azusa. Azusa seemed to tower over Ritsu despite the tawny haired brunette remembering Azusa smaller than her in the past. Ritsu felt her knees weaken as she bent back to avoid being head-butted by her kohai. Azusa loomed over her like a hunter inspecting its prey.

Azusa spoke, "Don't you think Yui deserves better?"

A sharp pain echoed through Ritsu's body as guilt washed over her.

_Did Yui deserve better?_

Before Ritsu could come to a conclusion, Yui appeared behind Azusa, a harsh glare on her face. She wrapped her arms around Azusa, all the while keeping eye contact with Ritsu with her eyes of stone. Yui nuzzled her head against the rhythm guitarist as she purred in a cat like manor. Suddenly Mio stood and strode over to Ritsu; Ritsu still had her eyes glued on the scene unfolding in front of her as Mio stood behind Ritsu. The drummer noticed a presence and turned, only to find pain radiating from her cheek as Mio slapped her in a fit of aggression as she screamed "I… I goddamn trusted you!"

To say Ritsu woke with a jolt is an understatement really, since she not only woke with a jolt, but sat up so straight she banged her head on Yui's chin.

"OW!" she yelled as Ritsu started to take note of her surroundings. Luckily what she had just experienced was a dream, now she had to figure out where she was. Fortunately Yui's smile told her all she needed to know, and she laid back into Yui's lap where she had been priorly sleeping.

She stared up into the beige coloured ceiling above her, wondering who thought a nice look for a house was a _beige _ceiling of all things. She had seen black ceilings, white ceilings, even a _purple_ ceiling. But nothing quite compared to the Hirasawa households ceiling. But like everything Yui related; it was perfect in its own special way.

Yui absentmindedly fingered Ritsu's brown hair; soon the innerly pained brunette was fast asleep in Yui's lap. Ritsu hadn't been wearing her hairband at all recently, at first it looked kind of strange, but the airhead took quite a liking to her girlfriend's new style, although she suspected the reason behind it was linked to Mio. How did she know? Because that's where most of Ritsu's problems came from.

Yui considered bending down to kiss her girlfriend on the forehead, but thought better than to risk waking her up. She then turned her attention to the TV and considered turning something on to keep her entertained whilst Ritsu slept, but yet again considered better of it, due to the very real possibility that Ritsu might wake up and get off her lap in annoyance. Yui came to the final decision that Ritsu's hair would be her entertainment as she continued brushing it around in her fingers. Yui laid back into the sofa she and Ritsu were on and thought back on previous events of the night.

"Ui, we're home!" Yui's echo bounced off the walls. Ritsu entered shortly behind her, plopping her walking stick against the wall. She looked up and saw a confused Yui with an inquisitive finger to her mouth looking around for her sister, Yui's finger drew away from her mouth as she picked up a piece of paper resting on her table. She then spun around sprinted over to Ritsu; the poor brunette was just getting her footing as she was pounced on by Yui and they both tumbled to the floor.

"What was that for?" Ritsu asked with a small giggle as she stroked Yui softly on the head.

Yui looked slightly bashful as she leaned into Ritsu's ear and whispered, "Ui is with Jun-chan! We have the whole house to ourselves!"

Ritsu's ears perked up and her mind began to swarm with ideas for fun things she could do with the girl currently glomping her. The more she thought about it, the more she realised she hadn't really done _anything_ fun or romantic or even remotely romantic with Yui without it involving drama or some unneeded angst from Ritsu, it was about time she convinced Yui that their relationship would be something other than just pain. Yui slowly got up off of her and once she was standing extended her hand to Ritsu to help her up. Ritsu smiled and took Yui's hand. Once Ritsu had found her balance the pair walked into Yui's kitchen, looking for something to eat.

After rummaging through the fridge for a while they resorted to checking all the various draws and cabinets dotted around the room. The various soups seemed to appeal to the pair so they settled on that. Eventually a bigger question came to mind. Which soups? The only way to decide was an aggressive game of seeing which soups would survive a two story drop. The couple picked their preferred soups, cast angry glares at one another and made their way upstairs. Despite the soup inspired tension, Yui still offered her hand to Ritsu; once they had locked fingers they travelled to Yui's room to perform the contest.

The contest went just as Yui expected, both soup cans lay broken on the floor. Ritsu's mushroom soup splattered mercilessly onto a patch of grass and Yui's chicken soup spilled shamefully across the pavement in the back garden. The girls exchanged a look of blankness before realising their meals had taken a turn for the worse. Both retreated to the kitchen and settled on a basic rice dish, nothing fancy at all, but enough for them.

Ritsu reached up and opened one of the cabinets in the kitchen and pulled out a bag of rice, Yui approached her and insisted that since Ritsu was a guest, that Yui did the cooking, Ritsu politely declined and they made dinner together. As Ritsu was opening the packet of rice, she looked over her shoulder and saw Yui idly cutting up some carrots, she looked lost in thought before coming out of it and meeting Ritsu's gaze, she smiled and waved at Ritsu despite them being less than a meter apart. Ritsu returned the smile, Yui's smiles always warmed Ritsu's heart, even before they were dating they did. Maybe she had liked Yui in that way before they even dated. Nothing was certain anymore anyway.

Ritsu broke away from the rice and approached Yui, before the guitarist could react Ritsu pulled her into a tight hug and a loving kiss on the cheek. Yui sheepishly looked up at Ritsu and blushed, then suddenly jumped up and gave Ritsu a full on kiss on the lips. She once again returned to her sheepish state, rubbed the back of her head and let out one of her famous "tee-hee's".

The tawny haired girl buried her head into Yui's shoulder and tightened her hold on her. Nothing was ever going to take Yui away from her, not Azusa, not Mio, not even her own sister. No one. Yui was hers. And she was Yui's. Yui gave Ritsu several strokes on the head before withdrawing and returning to her rice.

An hour passed and dinner was never made, for food fights were too common and many of the ingredients lay around on the floor rather than in the meal. Ritsu decided enough was enough and made both herself and Yui sandwiches, the pair agreed that they would clean up the kitchen later, although both knew that "later" would never roll around. Yui sat herself on the sofa in front of the TV in the living room, she sat directly in the centre of it. Ritsu briefly wondered why she would choose such a strange spot before Yui called out to her and patted her crossed legs. Ritsu's face lit up as realisation dawned on her and she practically sprang into Yui's lap.

Ritsu sat with her legs dangling over the front of the sofa while she sat firmly in Yui's crossed legs; she leaned back until her head was just below Yui's chin. Yui gently wrapped her arm around Ritsu until Ritsu was ensnared in a gentle hug. Minutes seemed to turn into hours as they sat there watching TV together, time was irrelevant to the drummer as for the first time in months, she felt truly at ease. Yui's hug kept her in place, almost like it was keeping Ritsu from descending into a personal hell of guilt and sadness. Yui made idle chatter and Ritsu cracked jokes just like they had done back in the club room so long ago, but now… Well… Ritsu didn't even know if things were better or worse anymore.

Ritsu found herself drifting off to sleep in her girlfriend's lap, something she had done many times before, but never until now with Yui Hirasawa. _Yui Hirasawa…_ the name echoed in Ritsu's tired mind. She liked that name. With that thought she drifted back to sleep.

Yui finished reflecting on the day and let out a small smile and leaned further back into her sofa. Today had been more than great, and she was excited for what her future with Ritsu held. She looked down and saw Ritsu groggily pull herself up off Yui's lap. A look of disappointment surfaced onto her face, but it was quickly turned into one of joy once Ritsu straightened herself out, stretched, turned and stroked Yui on the cheek with her index cheek.

"Rit-chan…" Yui purred, Ritsu had never fought so hard to resist the urge to glomp someone.

Ritsu pulled away her finger from Yui's cheek "Yui, can I ask you something?"

Yui looked straight on into Ritsu's amber eyes, whatever it was, she would do it.

"Can you teach me some guitar…? I wrote a song for someone I owe a lot to…"

* * *

Azusa biked her way through her neighbourhood, rounded the corner of a street and kept on the way to Ui's house. Her mind swirled as she peddled at a moderate rate, on one hand she wanted to know if Ui blamed her for the fight, on the other hand she didn't want to know the answer. Azusa breathed out a small sigh; _Things only get worse from here_

She didn't entirely believe that though, which is why she kept peddling towards the Hirasawa residence. She passed people of all different kinds on her journey, hunched over old men who looked like they'd seen better times. Mothers travelling with their children, pulling them along to some destination the children would rather never reach. Then she passed two girls who looked around her age, although one thing about them struck out to her…

Their joined hands.

In the midst of all that had been happening, Azusa almost forgot that there was an outside world, since her own world was in such chaos. She looked on with quiet envy at the two girls, laughing beside one another, holding hands without a care in the world. Her mind wandered to her once beloved senpai, who she had fantasised endlessly about being in a relationship with. She had been up whole nights at a time, thinking about little more than married life with a certain Yui Hirasawa. She had imagined everything from a dramatic confession of love to 10 years onwards, with them living together and maybe relaxing on a sofa watching a film together after a long day of work.

But alas a spanner had been thrown into the works, a spanner known as Ritsu Tainaka, who had stolen her senpai away from her without mercy. However, Azusa knew in her heart that wasn't true. She half-heartedly tried to defend her senpai in her mind, _No, I can't blame Ritsu-senpai for Yui's love to her; I just need to accept that Yui-senpai... Yui S-senpai doesn't l-… _Azusa felt herself tearing up. _S…s-she doesn't l-lov… Doesn't love…m..._

A single tear rolled down her cheek.

Azusa stopped her train of thought before it got any worse and continued on her way, leaving the two happy girls behind her. She ignored the sinking feeling in her heart and pressed on down the street, leaving her loneliness behind her, however it would soon return once she arrived at Ui's house.

Azusa turned one last corner and dismounted from her bicycle. She looked at the house in front of her, light blazed through several windows, cutting like a blade through the night sky. Like a moth to a lamp Azusa wandered towards the front door, her heartbeat echoed through her ears as she felt herself worrying more and more about what was awaiting her at the door. She lightly knocked on the door twice before it opened and she was met with a tawny haired brunette.

Azusa instantly avoided eye contact with Ritsu; she couldn't bear to look at her since her last interaction where she had moved the once energetic drummer to tears. Suddenly she found herself choking on guilt and felt herself being lost in an ocean of regret. Before she could lose her composure a soft voice threw her a lifeline.

"Why are you here, Azu-nyan?" Yui asked as she gently pushed Ritsu aside to greet her kohai. Azusa felt a pang of pain as she saw Yui interlock her fingers with Ritsu. Her thoughts briefly went back to the laughing couple she had spotted on the way there, her mind inserted herself and Yui into the situation, she pictured herself walking along, hand in hand with Yui, laughing about one of her antics she loved to tell her friends about. _Friends… _the words echoed in Azusa's mind until she forced her mind to bring her back to reality. Her face reddened and she sharply threw her gaze to the ground when she realised she had been standing there on Yui's doorstep without an explanation for her sudden arrival. She looked up into Yui's hazel eyes and blushed an even deeper shade of red, remembering all the things she'd imagined them doing together and realising how ignorant and stupid she had been for ever thinking any of it was possible in the first place.

Yui noticed Azusa had slightly blotchy eyes, the sight tugged on Yui's heartstrings. It wasn't unrealistic for Yui to believe that she herself had unintentionally caused the little guitarist's tears. Yui resisted the urge to reach out and hug her kohai to reassure her that they were still friends, but the last thing she wanted was to upset Ritsu, so she decided better of it. Yui felt a knot tighten in her stomach as she pondered what to say, nothing came to mind so she took a sideways glance at Ritsu, who was looking rather uncomfortable.

Ritsu could bear the silence no longer and spoke up, "S-so Azusa… Why are you here?" she nervously asked, she tightened her grip around Yui's hand for reassurance, and Yui squeezed right back and soothed the anxiety plaguing Ritsu's mind. Ritsu feared the response she would get.

Azusa straightened herself out and responded, "I'm looking for Ui-chan, is she here?"

Before Ritsu could answer Yui piped up, "I think she's round Jun-chan's house," she followed this with looking slightly outside the doorway from side to side, almost like she was trying to spot them in the distance. Yui returned to Ritsu's side and stared blankly at Azusa; the guitarist took the hint to leave and jerkily exclaimed "Okay! Well I'll be off then!" she turned to leave, but stopped halfway. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it again before saying anything. She then continued on her way to her bike, mounted it and begun on her renewed journey to Ui. Yui lightly waved to her as she left, although Azusa didn't turn back once she had turned from them.

Azusa felt the wind blowing in her hair as she cycled away from her crush and the person who stole her crush away from her. They were spending a night together. Alone. Envy boiled in Azusa's gut as she imagined what _activities_ the two must have been getting up to or will be getting up to tonight. Azusa pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind, bottled them up with everything else she'd been bottling up, including her confession to Yui.

The confession which would never reach her Senpai's ears.

* * *

What Azusa had experienced at the Hirasawa household had been rough, but what about confronting the girl she had just had a fight with? Her mind ran through what may occur when the door opened and Jun saw her. Would she receive maybe a look of disappointment? A punch to the gut? Maybe even a breaking of friendship? Whatever it was, Azusa was going to find out, whether she was prepared or not. The latter proved itself correct when the door opened and she found herself staring into the eyes of a brown haired bassist.

Jun's ice cold glare tore through the guitarist and she recoiled slightly, almost like she was trying to protect herself from it. Dribbles of dried blood were obvious under her nose, a mark of the fight that had happened earlier, Jun's choice to not rub off the blood spoke volumes about her attitude towards the fight. It was still fresh in her mind and Azusa wouldn't be surprised if Jun had it in her mind that it might be in her best interests to finish the fight from before.

There was nothing but concentrated anger in Jun's look, she made no effort to even keep her back straight, almost as if Azusa meant so little to her that she couldn't even be bothered to stand correctly when facing her. Despite the hatred radiating off of Jun's face, her look also held self-control, her composure didn't show threat, but hostility. A few seconds passed and the bassist slammed the door in Azusa's frightened face. Azusa stepped back slightly but quickly returned to where she was, and rang the doorbell again.

This time a confused Ui answered the door, confusion shifted to understanding as she took in the sight of Azusa. Azusa looked not only physically tired from cycling, but also mentally drained, almost like the soul had been ripped straight out of her.

Ui put her hand on Azusa's shoulder, attempting to give the girl what little reassurance she could offer. To Ui's surprise the guitarist brushed off Ui's hand and walked inside, she couldn't let herself get distracted and emotional any longer. She whispered an apology to Ui, whether Ui heard it or not, she didn't care. She continued until she reached the familiar inside of Jun's living room. Expensive looking paintings decorated the green walls and various sofas and chairs were scattered around the wealthy looking living room. On one sofa sat a certain Jun Suzuki, glaring daggers at Azusa. Azusa stopped cold in her tracks once she saw Jun's glare; it was an unwelcome change from her usual cheery/overconfident look.

Jun let out a small sigh before speaking, "Why are you here, Azusa?" she deadpanned. The question took Azusa by surprise as she came to the realisation that she had not planned anything for when she got here.

She blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "G-good to see you Jun-chan…!"

Jun looked slightly taken aback by Azusa's politeness, she had expected more of the usual moaning from her ex-friend, but the change in demeanour made Jun reconsider Azusa's motives for being here at her home. Jun got up from her chair, stretched in a slightly over exaggerated way and turned to face Azusa.

Azusa flinched slightly as Jun got up, but quickly stood to her full height again to avoid looking vulnerable. Ui smirked and supressed a laugh from outside of Azusa's view as the rhythm guitarist felt her confidence rising. She looked Jun straight in the eye, this time not with fear, but with confidence. She wasn't going to back down, _Jun should just apologise to me already_ she thought to herself. However her confidence was short lived once Jun spoke.

"So, are you going to apologise for attacking me or what, Azusa?"

She could bear the guilt no longer as she felt herself begin to tear up. What confidence remained sizzled away as her need for forgiveness increased. She looked up at Jun with increasingly teary eyes; Azusa hated how weak she was. Maybe that's why Yui didn't love her; maybe that's why she has such a hard time making friends. She just wished she was stronger, she wished she didn't back down, she wished she could give Jun a piece of her mi-

The flame of confidence in Azusa completely sizzled out as Jun wrapped her up in a big hug. Azusa stiffened at the contact but slowly eased into it and returned the hug, sliding her arms around Jun and squeezing tight. Jun let out a small giggle and petted her, Azusa blushed but didn't withdraw herself from the hug. Time slowed as Azusa let the joy of being hugged by someone; her senpai's hadn't hugged her at all since her soul mate had begun dating Ritsu. The hug seemed to squeeze out all the negative thoughts she had been cycling through recently, Azusa almost jumped back in surprise as Jun softly spoke, "I'm really sorry for earlier, can you forgive me?"

"Yes!" Azusa exclaimed as she buried her head further into Jun's shoulder, her answer came out almost as fast as Jun had asked the question.

Jun then turned her gaze to Ui, who was silently watching her from the corner of the room. Ui looked relieved beyond comprehension; Jun thought to herself that it was safe to assume that the younger Hirasawa sister had been worrying for her friend's future together.

The rest of the night was full of fun and games, the three girls bonded like nothing bad had ever taken place. Eventually Azusa decided she would head on home, to avoid her parents getting angry at her for staying out of the house for too long. As Jun waved her off Ui leaned over and whispered in her ear, "I was worried sick, you were ready to "finish what you started" earlier, why did you change your mind?"

The question resonated in Jun's mind for a second before she returned to reality and looking into Ui's inquisitive eyes, "Sometimes you just have to be the bigger person, she's been through a lot, so y'know… Water under the bridge. For the sake of us as a friend group."

Ui smiled at the response, she never knew Jun had such a responsible side. She just wished her sister had a responsible sid-…

"Onee-chan!" Ui exclaimed as the colour drained from her face as realisation dawned on her, "She's been home alone for so long! I have to get back there!" She exclaimed in panic. Jun simply maunevered herself out of the doorway so Ui could rush past. Ui waved a quick goodbye to the bassist and was on her way home, running as fast as her legs would take her.

* * *

"Youch!" Ritsu exclaimed as she pulled her finger away from the strings of Giita. Last time Ritsu played Yui's beloved guitar she hadn't realised how dangerous it could be, she let the pick fall out of her hand and hit Yui's pillow as she centralised her attention on her cut. Yui scrambled up from her bedroom floor and onto her bed to inspect Ritsu's new wound, disregarding the sheet of paper she had previously been proofreading for her girlfriend. Ritsu sat straight up and looked at Yui with teary eyes, over-exaggerating the situation to humour the airhead.

"Hmm, Rit-chan..." Yui solemnly said, her eyes steadily met with Ritsu's, "I think we may need to amputate it then..." A look of false horror spread across Ritsu's face as she jumped up onto Yui, the guitarist quickly leaned back and caught her girlfriend on top of her. "Not if I amputate you first!" Ritsu giggled as she bundled with her. Both girls wrestled with each other for a minute or two before Yui grabbed up Ritsu in an all-encompassing hug, leaving the other girl incapacitated in the embrace.

"I yield! I yield!" Ritsu said through laughs as her face was pressed into Yui's should in the ruthless hug. Her pleas were mercilessly ignored, "I'm never letting you go Rit-chan!" She giggled. Eventually Ritsu slipped out of the hug and straightened herself out, her and Yui exchanged a brief smile between them before Ritsu sat back down and begun strumming Giita again.

Yui continued reading over Ritsu's lyrics with awe, she had no idea the drummer could write so well, back when they'd done the new lyrics competition Ritsu had done… well poorly is an understatement, she hadn't written _any _lyrics at all. After that, Yui never would've guessed Ritsu could write with such heart, such _passion…_

…Such hurt…

Although it was obvious the lyrics of the song weren't directed at Yui herself. But she knew who it was directed at, and if Ritsu and this specific person made up, maybe Ritsu would be alright. She switched her attention to the tawny haired brunette, strumming the guitar on the bed. It came as a great relief to Yui how fast the girl had recovered, her broken hand seemed to not be broken at all (well the _broken _status was diagnosed by Yui) and her troubles walking and keeping her mind focused seemed to have been deterred by the pleasant times she shared with Yui. She didn't ever want to stop spending time with Ritsu; she would be her girlfriend forever. A determined smile spread across Yui's face as she turned around, told Ritsu her lyrics were good (to which she received a loving kiss on the cheek from the tawny haired brunette), and began teaching her what little she could actually remember about guitar.

Another few hours passed and Ritsu found herself sat on Yui's bed, strumming the guitar like she had been when she first picked it up, but there was enough difference between then and now that she felt confident that she could play her song to the specific person it was intended for. She slouched down onto the pillow she was laying on and pet Yui's head. The lead guitarist was sound asleep on Ritsu's lap, curled up like a cat, she purred slightly as Ritsu stroked her; she couldn't tell if Yui was purring in her sleep or as a purposeful response. Yui's feline like state reminded her of another feline-like girl she knew.

_Don't worry Azusa, ill sort all of this out tomorrow night at the band sleepover, because like they say…_

_Everything will be alright in the end._


	8. Chapter 8: Do i deserve you?

**A/N: **Hey, this chapter really flowed for me so i got it done fast, we're building up to the climax now, only a few chapters left. As always a follow would be massively appreciated and so would a review. Thanks for reading this far and enjoy the story.

* * *

Chapter 8: Do I deserve you?

* * *

Ritsu groggily rolled over in bed when hearing the familiar ringing of an alarm to signal for her to get a move on. However this wasn't her usual beeping alarm, this alarm was a ringing sound, like an old style clock you always see in cartoons and old timey films. She sat up with a start but after taking in the view of Hirasawa Yui's room, her confusion eased. She shakily maneuvered herself over the sleeping girl clinging onto her waist and dramatically slammed on the top of the alarm to hush it. The ringing ceased and Ritsu looked down at the brunette clinging to her. Yui seemed to be unwoken by the alarm somehow, a look of bliss on her face as she hugged Ritsu even more tightly whenever the drummer moved.

The night before had been excellent, not only had she learnt the relatively simple yet fantastic guitar chords for her song, but had also spent loads of quality time with her girlfriend. The elder Hirasawa sibling was a joy to be around. Ritsu had always been aware of this, but only once she'd been shown such love and affection by her did she realise its extent and the heart and love behind it all.

Yui Hirasawa could make anyone happy.

Even someone like Ritsu.

_Not that I deserve it,_ she glumly thought to herself, she sighed and pondered her next move. She _could _go back to bed and cuddle up with Yui again and forget she has school today. Or she _could _get herself and Yui up and head on to school. As Ritsu began to daydream about school, a tight knot formed in her stomach when she realised tonight was the night Mugi's proposed band sleepover was occurring. Thoughts about Mio stabbing holes into Ritsu's soul with her hostility made the tawny haired brunette shudder, she quickly jumped back under the covers to seek safety from her unwanted and ever more unwelcome thoughts.

Yui awoke to a girl burrowing her head into her shoulder like a cat trying desperately to fit into a small enclosed space. Both girls were closely and intimately entwined with each other, almost like they were trying to ensnare or immobilise the other. When Yui gently put her hand on the girl's head and tilted it up, she was met with two frightened amber orbs. She brushed her loose bangs out of the way of her eyes so she could see her full face. It was a beautiful face to say the least, maybe adorable would be a better word; Yui couldn't pick between the two so she resorted to giving Ritsu a loving kiss on the forehead. Some of the previous fear fled from her eyes and was replaced by joy, the sight of Ritsu's happy face made it all worthwhile to Yui. She would move heaven and earth for her girlfriend.

And tonight Ritsu was going to need to go just that far for the airhead.

While still clinging onto Ritsu, Yui turned and checked the time. When she saw her alarm had gone off 5 minutes prior she practically sprang out of bed; however Ritsu had other plans and pulled and tugged on Yui's waist, begging her to stay in bed. Eventually Yui realised her efforts to overpower her were moot, so she decided to try a different approach, "Rit-chan, if you don't let go of me, then I won't be baby making with you at all today," She said with mock tough voice. As soon as the sentence registered in Ritsu's mind she instantly let go. She looked mildly dejected for a second, a mild pang of guilt hit Yui so she resolved to help her up to make amends. She offered out her hand out to the drummer and pulled her off the warmth of the bed and onto her feet.

After doing finishing their morning schedule and getting fully ready for school, the pair set off towards Sakuragaoka high school, hoping to make it in time despite getting up a little late. Snow lightly caked the pathway outside of the Hirasawa household. However, the snow failed to properly coat the area around them. Ritsu could've gotten away with wearing regular shoes, but she went with boots just to be safe. Just as she was fitting her boots Yui rushed past her, fairly energetic to see the new layer of snow that had freshly closed the roads and shut down most schools in the area. Alarm bells rang in Ritsu's head as she called, "Yui! You should probably put on some boot-" Before she could finish her sentence Yui had slipped over on some ice and landed face first in a pile of snow. Ritsu sprang to life, leaving her left boot behind in favour of helping Yui up.

Ritsu leaned over Yui and pulled the guitarist to her feet, Yui had tears streaming down her face and her eyes were scrunched up in pain. Ritsu's heart sank at the sight and she wiped some of the tears from Yui's eyes. Yui continued sniffling until Ritsu could bear it no longer and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's waist and squeezed her tight. Yui wiped a fresh tear out of her eye, managed a weak smile and shakily said "Eeeh-heee," and rubbed the back of her head.

Ritsu released Yui from the hug, took hold of her hand and led her back inside the house where she sat Yui down on a chair nearby the door. Yui sat patiently while Ritsu rummaged around in the shoe cabinet looking for some boots for Yui. The guitarist let her mind wander as she absentmindedly wiped away her tears, which despite her bravest efforts refused to stop falling after the incident outside.

Yui looked down at her lap, unsure of what to think about. Early alarm bells were going off in her mind warning her that she may be late to school and that making Sawako angry could end in a fate worse than death. She also let her mind stray towards Ritsu's rapid recovery since the hospital yesterday; she felt her brain reliving the events of yesterday through clear as water memories. Her attention then turned to the lifeless walking stick propped up against a wall near the door. She remembered her insistence on Ritsu using it and lightly giggled to herself, it really did seem like the buchou made a speedy recovery.

She felt something lightly tug at her left foot and felt it being lowered into what she presumed to be a shoe; she inquisitively glanced down and saw none other than Ritsu Tainaka, putting some boots on her very own shoeless feet. Yui couldn't think of an appropriate reaction to the scenario playing out infront of her so she simply let Ritsu clothe her. After Ritsu had tied up the left boot Yui realised she was putting boots on her so she wouldn't slip again, she felt herself redden slightly and resisted the urge to hug her girlfriend as thanks for looking out for her clumsy self.

After Yui had boots on both feet the girls once again set off towards their school, around 20 minutes late due to Yui's overexcitement at the common snow. They chatted and giggled along the way, seemingly keeping up the unbroken loving atmosphere of last night. Yui retold great tales of cooking cakes and the likes for Ui on her birthday and ending up making _apple _cakes rather than the intended chocolate cake (she had to go over this story a few times before Ritsu wrapped her head around it). Ritsu recited tales of various TV shows she had been witness to recently, although her stories couldn't even compare to Yui's countless cake tales.

After Ritsu concluded telling Yui about a TV show she'd seen recently, they both turned a corner and ventured into the familiar school grounds. Ritsu noticed a few students giving her strange looks, that's when she realised her hard was still firmly held by Yui's. She cast her face up to the airhead and she realised Yui's happy expression remained unchanged by the judging masses, she decided she could learn a thing or two from her girlfriend and tried to focus on conversation with Yui rather than those staring eyes. Yui's soft words smoothed out their journey to the classroom and brought Ritsu's attention away from the fact that idle chatter died down whenever she and her girlfriend went somewhere in the school complex.

"It's funny, isn't It Rit-chan?" Yui idly asked the girl holding her hand.

"What's funny?" She finally asked after patiently waiting for Yui to give a response.

"The fact everyone seems to recoil at us whenever they see us," She blatantly stated, she was staring straight in front of herself with a sad smile plastered on her face, but Ritsu knew she was lost in her own world. A sense of foreboding washed over her as she realised maybe Yui had become like herself, and had developed a form of depression much like Ritsu's own. She shook off the thought and just to reassure herself (and Yui in case she really _was_ developing it) pulled her into a quick tight reassuring hug. Ritsu found herself hugging Yui a lot these days, truth was Yui was always warm and it helped warm the coldness she felt in her heavy heart.

Ritsu let go of Yui and the guitarist gave her a peck on the cheek as thanks, to which Ritsu smiled goofily at. The pair then continued to the classroom, absorbed in their own little world, unaffected by the judging eyes around them.

* * *

The classroom fell silent as the couple took their seats, it wasn't like they were doing anything out of the ordinary, well some, particularly their classmates, would consider the pair's actions as out of the ordinary. The point is that Ritsu and Yui had done nothing to stand out, the fact that they were there together was enough to make them the targets of gossip around the classroom.

Ritsu parted ways from Yui as they both took their seats, as Ritsu lowered herself onto her chair she heard faint whispers behind her that made her hair stand on end.

"I heard Tainaka-san doesn't wear a hairband anymore because of something Akiyama-san did to her."

"No, no, no... I heard from a reliable source that Tainaka-san wore it as a sign of her love to Akiyama-san, that's why she doesn't wear it anymore."

"Your both very simple minded aren't you? I _know _that Tainaka-san doesn't wear it anymore because she wants to hide her face with her bangs to avoid Akiyama-san's deadly looks."

Ritsu remained nonchalant and properly seated herself, but her mind was spinning and she had the sudden urge to beat up whoever came up with these rumours. Maybe she should go back there and straighten things out with them. But what if that led to something else? What if she got in a fight? And got expelled? She shook her head at the extreme notion but her experiences with Mio had altered her views of how easy something could be escalated. She decided to pretend she didn't exist until Sawako finally entered the classroom.

Ritsu, like always, couldn't lend Sawako her focus for more than 5 minutes before letting her mind stray. Though these days she wished she could hold her attention a little longer as her thoughts weren't always too pleasant. Ritsu focused her amber eyes on her girlfriend sitting a few seats in front of her. Everything from her thigh high stockings to her adorable brunette hair, Ritsu decided it was a good way to spend her lessons. She suddenly felt overcome by a feeling of dread and nervousness; she hesitantly turned and surveyed the room discreetly, not wanting to make any unnecessary eye contact. Then their eyes met.

Mio's huge grey iris' met Ritsu's own amber ones in a cruel turn of fate. Millions of unspoken words were transferred from one girl to the other through simple eye contact. Although she tried to convey sorrow and remorse, all Ritsu could show was sadness and bitterness with a tint of anger. The spite shown in Mio's stare was enough to make Ritsu break the spell and quickly turn to face the teacher like the school intended her to. She lowered her head into her hands as she tried to block out Mio's glare, she knew despite the fact she had turned round, the bassist continued her visual siege of Ritsu's soul.

The day dragged on for the elder Tainaka, as the weight of the worry that her song would be ineffective dragged down her mood and attention lower than it had been even in her most sleep deprived states. Staring into the Maple desk seemed to be paying her no favours so she resolved to work on her lyrics, tweaking them to be as effective as possible. She patiently waited for Sawako to finish monologuing about God knows what so she could pull the lyric sheet out of her tray undetected. Her time finally came and she whipped open her desk, pulled out the lyrics sheet and quickly closed it again, all in the space of a few seconds. Sawako was none the wiser.

Ritsu held the lyrics sheet in her shaking hands. Her hands shook a lot these days, not enough to cause a scene but enough for the tawny haired brunette to realise her emotional turmoil had cut deeper into her than she had previously thought. She tucked placed the lyric sheet into an open page of her workbook to mask its existence, the last thing she needed was someone confiscating it then having it spread all around school. As she stared at the lyrics she felt nervous, she fretted that maybe it wouldn't be good enough. Like how she wasn't good in enough for the bassist.

Her thoughts were brought to a sudden halt as a disturbance further down the classroom brought all eyes upon Hirasawa Yui. People were giggling and containing in laughter as they stared at the airhead unintentionally make a scene. She had half fallen off her chair by what appeared to be leaning too far to one side; she had her legs still mounted on the chair but her lower half on the ground. She was firmly grasping a pen in one hand and had a look that screamed satisfaction on her face. She scrambled back onto her seat and sat up straight like nothing had happened at all. Sawako continued staring at her for a few seconds before deeply sighing and turning back to the chalkboard to continue teaching.

Ritsu blinked a few times and smiled a confused smile, to save her from her confusion the girl sitting next to her passed her a small slip of paper. It read, "She dropped her pen, tried to roll it back to her with her foot but rolled it too far and sprang off her chair to get it before it was too late." Ritsu confused smile turned into a genuine one at Yui's antics, she mouthed a thank you to the girl next to her and turned back to what she intended to do and started tweaking her lyrics.

* * *

The bell echoed signalling the end of the school day; students filed their way out of classrooms, wondering what was for dinner that night or maybe how to get on top of all that homework they had been assigned. Well, that was everyone besides a lonely tawny haired brunette whom continued rubbing out and scribbling on a piece of paper until she suddenly felt two arms wrap her up in a hug from behind.

Ritsu hadn't even noticed Yui creeping up on her and now she had paid the price. She wrestled Yui off of her and finished the final tweaks to her song, the brunette looked dejected for a second before brushing it off and resting her head on the brunettes shoulder and peering at the newly edited lyrics for Ritsu's song. They were powerful, more powerful than before. The guitarist hoped that everything went well for her girlfriend tonight at the club sleepover.

"Rit-chan, shouldn't we get going?" She asked gently. All she got in response was an absentminded nod, Ritsu didn't even make eye contact, the stress seemed to be getting to her. Yui's expression hardened and she pulled Ritsu off of her seat and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Rit-chan!" Yui half shouted, the yell startled the spaced out drummer and she said a confused "Eh?" with a bewildered smile on her face. Yui continued, "You can do this, I know how hard you've worked on this, and she will understand when she hears it, you just have to be confident!" Yui's eyes finally met Ritsu's as she finished, "We all make mistakes, Rit-chan, some more than others. You just have to remember that nothing is lost until it is gone."

The words found home deep within Ritsu's mind. She thanked God for Yui's tendency to be exceptionally well and wisely spoken when the time was needed. Her worries somewhat subsided at the pep talk but still remained. She looked up into Yui's confident eyes and felt her heart rise a bit.

_No matter how this goes, Yui will still be beside me._

The thought made Ritsu smile and she took Yui's hand in her own. Yui beamed and nuzzled her head on Ritsu's.

"Just how many babies do you want, Rit-chan?" She playfully asked. The pair walked through the school, uncaring of the hundreds of judging eyes that peered into their souls when they walked past. The couple was happy together and that was all that mattered.

Until they reached the ominous double doors of the music room.


	9. Chapter 9: The other wall is crumbling

**A/N: **Hey amigos, its been a (not too long now, kinda proud of myself for actually working on this) a little while. Huge thanks to Sir_Byronn for proofreading this, as always a review and a follow would be massively appreciated if you enjoyed the story.

Also next chapter will _Probably_ be the last one, and probably quite a long one.

Thanks and enjoy

* * *

Chapter 9: The other wall is crumbling

* * *

The quiet of the night fit well with the recent frost, as a noisy night would've heavily disturbed the sleeping snow of the landscape. The moon was hidden behind layers of thick clouds, shielding itself from the setting snow. All was still and one could hear the sound of their own heartbeat if they were to traverse the town at this hour. On this particular night two brunettes stood outside the music room door in Sakuragaoka High School.

"Yui, I… Uh… J-just r-remembered I have some urgent business to attend to!" Ritsu exclaimed out of the blue. Out of the blue maybe to any passerby, but Hirasawa Yui knew that the drummer simply was trying to avoid the band sleepover they had priorly organised. Ritsu began to slink away back down the stairs, but a firm grab to her hand spun her body around to face the music room door once again. She casted a nervous look to her girlfriend and was met with a small determined smile in response, Yui knew Ritsu could do this; she just had to believe in herself.

Ritsu, unfortunately, did not believe in herself.

The tawny haired brunette felt her knees weaken beneath the overwhelming weight of worry. She maneuvered her gaze to the ground and shut her eyes tight. She blocked out what little noise there was and let her negative thoughts sink in to attempt to alleviate the worry. _What if Mio doesn't like my song? What if Azusa gets angry at me again? What if… y-Yui… leaves me for Azus-…_

She suddenly found herself being embraced by Yui, the guitarist mustered all the love she could give and squeezed it all into Ritsu. She was fatally unaware that love could not be transferred via hugging, but the message got across anyway. She moved her head up from Ritsu's shoulders and locked eyes with her; she lowered her head down and planted a gentle kiss on the girl's forehead. Ritsu blushed and felt another tidal wave of guilt washing over her. She had been relying on Yui far too much for support, and was worried she would crush the happy airhead's spirit. Ritsu softly pushed away from the hug and petted Yui on the head, "I'll be alright," She managed to whisper out, although she didn't at all believe it. Yui nodded and turned towards the doors, a few steps took her right too them with Ritsu shakily following behind. With one last small smile to her girlfriend Yui slowly opened the creaky door of the music room.

Ritsu heard conversation grind to a halt as she entered the room, she kept her gaze fixated in the ground in front of her, fearful of any eye contact she may risk making by looking up. Her heart beat soared and she felt light headed, the stray rays of light that came into her field of view beckoned her to look up. At first she refused with all her might, but she wasn't at her strongest and caved into her natural sense of curiosity. She brushed her loose bangs out of the way of her vision and took in her surroundings.

Mio's stormy grey eyes of stone were the first thing the amber eyed girl saw, emotions started to boil in Ritsu's stomach as they held the eye contact. Fear, guilt and bitterness stained Ritsu's soul and the sight of those grey orbs that belonged to the one she loved most. Seeing her ex-lover only added to the heaviness in her heart. She broke away from the gaze and drifted her vision over to the person sitting next to her.

Tsumugi Kotobuki was sat silently next to the bassist, her face riddled with worry. She opened her mouth to speak, but lost her voice and shut her mouth; her nerves had gotten the best of her. A defeated look spread across her face and the sight made Ritsu's heart ache. If Ritsu could pull all the right moves, then Mugi's face wouldn't look so dejected by tomorrow morning.

A little further over to the right of Tsumugi was Azusa Nakano, staring intently at her lap like it was the most interesting thing in the world. She looked distraught, most likely at the sight of the newly entered senpais. Azusa wasn't ready. She had never been ready. Never had she expected Yui to ditch her for a mutual friend. Everything was just so…wrong

Everything was just wrong. _Everyone was all jumbled up because of Yui senpai and Ritsu senpai's love. How could they destroy our club to chase some immature fantasy that a relationship between them might work?_ Azusa could draw no conclusions… Except…

She was just like her senpais; she had chased a foolish dream of being with someone great like Yui. Her eyes watered at her own selfishness as she realised that if she had been with Yui, the others would be encouraging her and not disapproving like she currently was. But the situation had changed; Yui and Ritsu weren't meant to be together. Azusa sighed; she had taken far too long to come out of her shell and ask Yui out, part of this was her theory that Yui didn't love her, or loved someone else. Which now she knew to be correct, but maybe she could've been with her beloved fellow guitarist if she had acted sooner. The twin tailed girl scolded herself for her weakness and shyness.

She knew this train of thought was a loop, so she decided to do the only thing that she knew would get her off said loop. "…Y-yui s-s-senpai…?" she murmured, luckily Yui's diligent ears picked up on it.

"Yes, Azu-nyan?" Yui gently asked. Azusa stared up at the eternally cheerful brunette, she wished she could have such a loving soul to herself, but she would have to make do. _For Yui senpai's happiness, _she repeated to herself until she had enough confidence in her decision making skills to speak up again.

"D-d… Do you want to go get some yakisoba with me…!?" Azusa abruptly shouted. All eyes turned to her and the rhythm guitarist's face turned bright red, she closed her eyes tight and refused to acknowledge the embarrassment she felt. A hand picking up her own caused her eyes to burst open, she kept her eyes on Hirasawa Yui's hand on her own. Yui squeezed the younger girl's hand and happily said, "I'd love to, Azu-nyan." She helped Azusa's quivering body to its feet and made her way towards the door with Yui. The brunette turned and discreetly winked to Ritsu before vanishing behind the music rooms double doors.

The message of the wink went over Ritsu's head at first, but slowly she realised she was "_Sorting out_" her situation with Azusa, and hopefully also Ritsu's own situation with Azusa in the process. The amber eyed girl then realised she was alone with Mio and Mugi. The time for her to make up with the raven haired girl drew ever closer. And Ritsu was less and less prepared every time she thought about it. But Ritsu knew that if she didn't do anything about her situation with Mio, it would be detrimental to not only herself and Mio. But also a certain airhead she was madly in love with. Ritsu composed herself and drew a deep breath.

"Hey Mio…"

"Not that way Yui senpai!" Azusa yelled at her immature elder. They were _meant _to be getting some yakisoba, but her senpai kept wandering off to various cake stools set up for the school fair tomorrow morning. Although some students who really wanted extra funds stuck it out for the night, serving food and services to other students also staying at school overnight.

Azusa contemplated letting Yui get her way before they talked, maybe to make the upcoming conversation a tad lighter on her. However Azusa was brought to her senses by Yui's polite yelling. "Thank you!" she heard the airheads voice faintly in the distance. Azusa shivered in the cold dark weather, although a shiver of fear also ruptured her stability as being alone in the dark maze of stools caused her to worry for her safety and the safety of her senpai. It was at that moment she realised that Yui had wandered far out of her sightline ages ago. A small sense of dread overcame her as she feared she might have lost her senpai in the endless maze of stools, both open and unopened.

The twin tailed guitarist began to sprint towards the direction she believed the yell to come from, she darted past theme upon theme of stools, ignoring even the most interesting and inviting of foods. Panic began to rush to her head as her sense of direction faltered and she found herself back to where she started. Tears began to fill her eyes as she realised she may have missed her opportunity to make up with her crush, she had failed again, and she knew this would neither be the last time she failed nor the worst of her failures.

Azusa's sniffling came to an abrupt stop as some arms wrapped around her, she grasped the arms with all her might. Azusa gripped the arms with all her might, the familiarity of the softness of the arms let her know exactly who they belonged to. She wanted to push the arms away, tell the owner of the arms that she shouldn't be cuddling her now that she has an official girlfriend. But the hole in Azusa's heart conquered all over feelings, and she rested into the hug.

Yui picked up her newly acquired Yakisoba and the two made their way back through all the various stools, ignoring the pleas and barters of the stool owners trying to make a quick buck on the duo. Azusa stayed a few paces behind Yui, trusting the guitarist's sixth sense for food to guide them to some yummy yakisoba. As Azusa followed, a feeling of heaviness weighed down on her heart, maybe if things had gone differently, she and Yui would be holding hands at the present moment. It was then that Azusa abruptly stopped. The reality of her predicament had only just dawned on her; Yui didn't belong to her, and never would. Her soulmate was with someone else, and she would never be able to hold hands with her, or kiss her, or say "I love you", or greet when she came home, or fall asleep in the same bed with or-…

Azusa shakily looked up, expecting the airheads yearning for food to have taken her far away from her, but Yui stood there with a melancholic smile plastered on her face. Guilt began to eat at Azusa's soul as she began to walk again, hoping that yakisoba was still a part of the plan for tonight. Yui's unchanging smile told her otherwise.

"This place is fine, Azu-nyan." Yui absentmindedly said, her attention focused on a nearby withering tree. The tree seemed to be past its prime, its beautiful pink petals decaying under the chilly winter weather. She slowly walked over to a bench sitting nearby to them, in the centre of two rows of withering cherry blossom trees. Yui wiped two spots of the bench clean of snow with her blazer, she proceeded to sit in one and gestured for Azusa to seat herself on the other.

The twin tailed guitarist stared at her senpai who was currently taking small bites out of her Yakisoba, they were small pathetic bites compared to the pace she usually ate at. Yui seemed… a little off… She was less bouncy and active, and took on a slow melancholic way of doing things since she reassured Azusa a little earlier. Azusa resolved to find the meaning behind Yui's sadness before the night was over.

Azusa seated herself next to her downbeat senpai, Yui was still smiling, but her eyes were droopy and worn, and her shoulders were slightly slouched. She gave off a whole tired and worn out feeling, the complete opposite to her usual happy self. "Azu-nyan, you don't have any Yakisoba," Yui stated, still looking directly in front of her rather than at her Kohai. Azusa pondered whether her own lack of Yakisoba had caused Yui's sadness; she decided to test her theory.

"h…Hai! I'll go and get some if it cheers you up." Azusa beamed, she prayed with all her mind and soul that this would cheer up her companion.

"No, stay here, Azu-nyan." Yui gently said to her, still looking directly in front of her, Azusa saw nothing in front of Yui worth staring at for so long. Yui seemed quite lost in her own thoughts. Azusa went to sit down next to her unreadable senpai, she froze when she heard Yui mutter something under her breath.

"Please don't leave me again, Azu-nyan."

A surprised "Eh!?" escaped Azusa's mouth as sweat beads trickled their way down her face, she tried hard to understand what the brunette meant. Azusa didn't even know where to start with that thought process, when had she left Yui? The rhythm guitarist decided enough was enough and asked bluntly, "What do you want exactly, Yui-senpai?"

Yui's face remained unchanged, if she had heard what Azusa said, she made no indication of it. Nevertheless after a few moments she spoke again, "I don't want you to go Azusa," She plainly responded, still not taking her eyes off the invisible void beyond her. The lack of a nickname startled Azusa; she wondered what this meant, had she altered Yui's opinion of her in the past few minutes somehow? She was wasting too much time and she might be losing Yui in the process.

Azusa moved off of the bench, feeling the icy wind brush her face as she walked directly in front of Yui's vision. Yui blinked a few times and moved her vision up to meet Azusa's, the twin tailed guitarist felt her heart sink as she took in the unusual look of melancholy in Yui's eyes. Azusa's mind stirred at the thought that she had caused Yui this pain and began to tear up. Yui meanwhile looked unchanged; the lack of compassion from her senpai scared the cat like girl slightly.

_Maybe Yui senpai doesn't care about me anymore_

Tears began to stream down her cheeks as her vision blurred, she had so much to say, to confess. She wanted to slap her uncaring senpai for her coldness but a desire also emerged to hold the girl tightly in her embrace, and tell her everything would be okay. Azusa wiped tears away from her eyes, "Yui-senpai…"

"You were always so cute whenever you cried, Azusa," Yui observed a hint of regretful sadness in her voice. Azusa stiffened at the comment as her confusion hit its peak. She couldn't handle it anymore.

Anger welled up inside of the smaller girl, "What do you want from me!? Senpai!?" She yelled at her upperclassman, Yui didn't even flinch at the outburst.

"I don't know anymore," Yui responded plainly, her gaze shifted further downwards towards her own feet, tears threatened to well in her eyes.

Yui recomposed herself, "I thought I wanted Ritsu, but now I'm not too sure…" She murmured, her voice cracking at the end. The guitarist's previous calmness was slipping away.

"Then maybe…" Azusa began; she knew she shouldn't ask, she knew it in her heart. But she had to; she wouldn't ever be able to move on without a rejection. Yui would hate her for asking, reject her in a heartbeat, she might not be able to live with the aftermath, but she had to. For her own sake.

"D…d-do you… w-w-want me instead?" She mumbled, she cursed her low confidence to hell.

Yui looked up and met Azusa with her hazel eyes. Yui was truly beautiful, Azusa believed that with all her heart, she ignored the fact a rejection was right around the corner, she was just happy to be in the brunette's presence.

"I… don't know…" Yui said unsurely, Azusa's eyes widened in shock.

_Could this mean…?_

Yui shifted uncomfortably on the bench she was sitting on, "I've wanted to be with Rit-chan for the longest time, ever since she first called me a 'klutz'," She said dreamily, a small embarrassed smile crept up onto her face.

Azusa felt her heart drop at Yui being almost swept away by Ritsu's comments; she sometimes wished she had the quick wit to be more like the tawny haired brunette.

"But now," Yui continued, "I don't know anymore. I felt like me and Rit-chan had a connection, I felt like we really loved each other… I felt like she really loved me."

Pain vibrated through her as shame took over, here she was, practically asking out someone who was not only dating someone else, but was also going through a rough patch with a relationship with someone she loved. She was disgusted with herself, if only she had-… Her thoughts were interrupted when Yui continued talking.

"She seems so sad all the time, and I-I… d-d-don't know what to do." Seeing the brunette stammer made Azusa's heart ache. She stared deep into those usually carefree hazel orbs, they were riddled with despair.

"I-I used to think she loved me and wanted to make babies with me… and maybe we could form our own band and call it 'Yitsu' and we could have lots of fun, b-but she seems t-t-to… t-to be too sad to play anything…" Tears were escaping Yui's eyes now. _That's why she was so emotionless; she was bottling up what she had to say._ Azusa once again cursed herself for her inability to perceive emotions properly. Maybe if she had of understood the airhead then things would be a lot better for herself and her poor senpai's.

Azusa wanted to break down and sob, but she held what little composition she had left and listened to her crush.

"I want to disappear so I can't make her sad anymore… But then she might be sadder and hurt herself more. Maybe she doesn't love me anymore because she still likes Mio-chan but Mio-chan was mean to her so now they aren't dating and I don't know what to believe anymore!" Yui wailed, the sight tore Azusa to shreds. For the first time in her life, she embraced the upperclassman.

Azusa squeezed her hard and tight, trying to suck out all her pain with a single hug, although her efforts were rejected by Yui, who pushed her off. As Azusa stumbled to regain her balance after being shoved away she felt rejection wash over her and she dropped to her knees and covered her face. Memories of the club room incident a few days prior flashed through her mind and her mental state collapsed around her. She heard Yui's ramblings but couldn't make sense of them anymore. She just wanted to disappear.

Suddenly she could no longer hear the brunette's sobbing, she raised her head slightly and peeked out between her arms. Yui was nowhere to be seen. Her sense of panic overrode everything else as Azusa sprung up and looked around franticly trying to locate her. She saw Yui sprinting down the column of withering trees and towards the main school building. A decaying pink petal fluttered by Azusa's blotchy face; she reached out and let the wind carry the fragile leaf into her hand.

The petal was once a part of something beautiful, a grand tree that everyone who saw it appreciated. It had once been a part of something strong, alas now it was withered and decaying due to improper weather treatment. Azusa scrunched up the petal and began to sprint down the direction she saw Yui depart in.

She journeyed throughout the near empty school grounds until she saw her, untying a rope that was hanging from a jungle themed food stool. Azusa didn't have time to question Yui's antics as she ran to stop her doing whatever she was planning to do. Azusa didn't trust Yui in general, but especially not in this state.

She called out Yui's name but the brunette ignored her and made off with the rope and darted into the school building. Azusa followed her until the trail hit a dead end. She found herself in front of the double doors of the light music room. A feeling of déjà vu disrupted her thought pattern as she banged frantically on the door and called her senpai's name. When the door refused to budge and her calls left unanswered, she scrambled to peek through the glass frames on top of the door and saw Yui alone in there. With a rope tied in an all too familiar knot.

Yui had a noose.


	10. Chapter10:The weakness of a broken heart

**A:N: **So this chapter finally got published, i honestly thought this would be the last but theres probably gonna be 2 more and an epilogue, hope this was worth the wait.

Huge thanks to Sir_Byronn for proof reading this, and a review would be massively appreciated. Thanks

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Chapter 10: The weakness of a broken heart

Ritsu wasn't sure what to do next. Well to be truthful she was never sure what to do with herself, always making herself as over the top as possible in hopes that maybe it would lead to some acceptance of her presence. Of course there were those that disliked her presence, there were many that outright despised it. They wished nothing more than for the amber eyed girl to leave them alone and disappear forever to spare others their own fate. But there was one who had always tolerated Ritsu Tainaka, even loved her as a friend at one point...

...And then as a lover...

...And now that person was glaring straight at Ritsu.

Mio broke away from staring into the drummer's eyes, she felt the same captivation that she felt back when they were together. The same overwhelming urge to smother the short girl in love and affection and remark over and over how cute and adorable she was.

But she couldn't, not after what happened.

Mio shifted uncomfortably on the floor of the music room. Mugi had claimed to bring them all here for practise, but she knew the blonde's intent. She didn't blame Mugi for trying to bring her and Ritsu back together, but it wasn't happening, not in a million years. Pigs would fly before she forgave that _thing _idlystanding across the room from herself and Mugi.

Sure, she had her moment of weakness when she let Mugi talk her into visiting Ritsu in the hospital. Because of this, she couldn't deny it. She still loved Ritsu, and she was still terrified that something may have happened to Ritsu. But these feelings weren't of her choice. Love was an odd thing sometimes: you end up loving those that you wish death upon, even though your emotions would tear you apart at the site of it.

Mio once again shifted in a moot attempt to get comfortable in Ritsu's presence. She wasn't backing down to her emotions, not this time. Never again. She hated Ritsu, and her emotions would have to deal with that.

Mio opened her mouth to tell Ritsu to leave but before she got the chance the blonde next to her spoke up, "Rit-chan, why don't you take a seat here?" She said, patting the spot next to her. For a brief second Ritsu looked like a deer struck by lights before coming to her senses, sheepishly smiling and stumbling to sit beside the keyboardist.

Mio puffed out her chest slightly and raised her shoulders in a primal act of dominance; she wasn't going to be intimidated by Ritsu's presence. A part of her brain told her that her actions were childish, but Mio pushed the thoughts out and let only one thing consume her mind. Her hatred for Ritsu Tainaka.

Mio stole a glance at Ritsu and saw her squirm in her seat, she clearly wasn't comfortable. Ritsu probably didn't want to be here by any means, but that didn't excuse her past actions. In fact, little thoughts of Mio making Ritsu even more uncomfortable than she already was sprung up in her mind. The thought looked better and better as she thought back to the brunette's previous behaviours. Mio once again opened her mouth to harass her, but, as history was doomed to repeat itself, Tsumugi interjected once again before Mio's words could fine home.

"Y-youch…!" Mugi exasperatedly yelled as she toppled over in a more than overdone fashion. The bassist and drummer exchanged confused looks as Mugi lay on the ground in front of them. Mio quickly scanned the keyboardist to find a source of injury and maybe even a reasonable explanation for such an abrupt fall. Eventually Mio's eyes set upon the tip of Mugi's index finger, which was bleeding to such a small extent she had to squint to see it.

Mugi turned to Mio and whispered gently, "I'll go patch myself up now I suppose," She stood and slowly trekked to the door. She turned slightly and sent Mio a small smile and a wink before she disappeared behind the double doors to the corridor. Mugi's absence left a heavy feeling over the light music room as only the drummer and the bassist remained. An awkward silence emerged from the blonde's departure and Mio sat with her back turned to the tawny haired girl.

Mio's blood boiled at the thought that Ritsu might speak to her. _How __dare__ she think she's worth my time after all that happened?_

Mio grinded her teeth in seething anger as she held back the urge to clobber Ritsu over the head to end her troubles once and for all.

But something more than her sense of rationality held her back, something she either couldn't or didn't want to put her finger on. Mio's mind swirled as she tried to push that something out of her head but she couldn't quite manage it. She couldn't admit the reason, she wouldn't. She couldn't comprehend the reason behind it. She just…

Somewhere in her heart, Mio Akiyama still loved Ritsu Tainaka.

Somewhere deep and secret, something Mio had long since turned her back on,; but it lingered on, growing in absence from the front of her mind. Suddenly an urge to turn around and… _Hug _Ritsu began to settle in, the very idea of it made her sick to her stomach. She tried to push the thought away, but failed miserably as she tried to bury the urge to embrace Ritsu with thoughts condemning her for all wrongs she had committed to her. The so many wrongs that drove Mio in her every action nowadays.

Mio was on the verge of hitting herself from the confusion in her brain, but an outside voice hit her before her own fist could, "H-h-h…" Ritsu paused, straightened herself out and continued. "Hey Mio are you okay over there!?" She managed to rapidly speak out. Ritsu's pitch failed her and the sentence came out awfully quick and loud. Sweat beads trickled down Ritsu's head as Mio turned to look her in the eye with her stone cold glare. Mio's once tough loving eyes were now bleak and cold, the result of a shattered heart. Ritsu felt every urge to mirror the stare, but her longingness to get Mio back prevailed over any other urge or sensation she was suffering through at that very moment in time.

"It's okay if you don't wanna talk I just wanted to know if you were okay…! Because that's what friends do right!? We look after one another!" She was doing it again, speaking exceptionally fast, God knows why. Well perhaps it was nervousness; Mio took pride in her domination of Ritsu's comfortability in the room. She decided it was best to further said domination.

"Since when did you understand the needs of friends?" Mio asked more than harshly at the already intimidated Ritsu. She was partially taken aback but did not relent.

"I guess I've learned in this time we've spent apart!" She exclaimed, adding a nervous laugh onto the end. But alas it was little too late and Mio wasn't impressed.

"That sense of empathy might have helped us back then…" Mio muttered as she turned to stare at the wall once again.

"Helped us when?" Ritsu blankly asked. Mio turned and looked Ritsu dead on. She looked absolutely clueless. Once again, the line between Ritsu being an idiot or understandably not seeing the meaning of something was blurred and Mio took a deep sigh before continuing.

"Back when we..." Mio's eyes found home on the floorboards, avoiding Ritsu's quizzical gaze at all costs, "Used to be…" A tear stung Mio's right eye, "…Together…"

Mio almost chocked on the last word and she could see Ritsu almost did too. Suddenly without much warning Ritsu went into a small frenzied state of shouting apology after apology and begging for forgiveness. Although Mio knew the drummer's intentions weren't ill willed, the annoyingness of the apologies was like someone driving a screwdriver through her ears. She put up with it until she could stand it no more.

"SHUT UP RITSU!" Mio screamed at the top of her lungs. Ritsu looked taken aback for a second before more and more tears appeared in her eyes as Mio continued.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" Mio bellowed. She cast her eyes at poor Ritsu who was letting a few tears fall down her cheeks as she weakly stood there, in the blast zone of Mio's outburst.

Guilt flooded through the raven haired girl as Ritsu quietly sobbed, still standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. Mio took a few deep breathes to quell her anger and paced over to Ritsu. She looked Ritsu in the eyes and muttered, "Stop crying."

Ritsu stopped sobbing, but couldn't supress the occasional snivel. Although Mio's words had little to no sympathy in them, and appeared as a harsh order: Ritsu detected something hidden in the words which must have echoed from the catacombs of Mio's mind.

There was a sense of worry in those words.

Which meant…

Mio still cared for Ritsu in some regard, no matter how obscure that regard was.

Ritsu's heart started beating a million miles a second as she realised the opportunity she had here. Mio still cared for her a _slight _bit, it wasn't hopeless and their relationship wasn't too far gone. Ritsu suddenly froze in her place as a soft pair of fingers wiped away one of the droplets of tears still solemnly rolling down her cheeks. The now wet fingers recoiled and returned to their place at Mio's side. Ritsu looked up at Mio expectantly, waiting for her to follow up on her actions with words. Mio's gaze remained on the floor. The two stood facing each other, amber eyes searched for grey but found no home. Moments passed and Ritsu began to fear that time had been cruel and she was stuck in this awkward position forever, however time actually begged a differ and Mio opened her mouth to speak.

"This isn't how things are meant to be" She murmured almost under her breath. Once again Ritsu was left confused by Mio's words and she pondered on their meaning. Eventually her patience ran out and she decided to ask the obvious.

"Isn't how what is meant to be?"

Mio turned away from her as painful memories tugged at her heartstrings. She couldn't bring herself to explain it to her, to explain something so obvious to someone so dense. She stole a glance out the window and took in the scene outside. Snow was pouring itself down upon the streets and the few poor people who had taken time to shovel their walkways would never see the fruit of their labour. Mio understood how they felt, to work on something for so long and to have it ultimately being for nothing, or even worse, to have the thing you worked for despise you with all of her heart. To glare at you with her sad amber eyes, to turn her back to you with her light brown hair flowing all the while.

Mio's train of thought was disrupted by a voice suggesting something to her,. sShe didn't hear, nor did she care. She continued to stare out of the window, rueing everything she had done until that moment in time where she had botched up everything by-

"Mio!" Ritsu called to the spaced out high-schooler,. Mio's eyes lit up at her name being called and turned around to face the source of the voice. Ritsu was standing there with an… _Acoustic guitar…!? _A million answers flowed into Mio's mind as a few more million questions followed them up. _Since when could that idiot play a guitar…?_ Mio shook her head as she realised Ritsu couldn't possibly plan to play the guitar, but then that raised the question of why she had it in the first place. Mio's mind swirled as Ritsu tried to grab her attention.

"Oi! Mio!" Ritsu gently yelled with her face nearly pressed up against the Bassist's own. Mio's spatial awareness returned to her and she jumped back in surprise, putting some unneeded distance between the two. Ritsu looked dejected for a second but she picked herself back together rather quickly and continued. "I-I…" Tears nearly fell once again from her blotchy eyes, but she wouldn't let herself be weak anymore. "I wrote a song, it's about us, and I want you to h-hear it."

There, she said it; now all that was left was for Mio to agree to hear the song. However Mio looked stunned for a few minutes, it was either because of the idea that the drummer of the band, let alone Ritsu, learned to play guitar; or the prospect that Ritsu had put time and effort into something for her. Mio blushed slightly at the thought of Ritsu doing something for her. The thought brought her back to simpler times, when she would get random gifts from the brunette seemingly at random. Mio remembered back to when she and Ritsu had been in a café one evening after spending all day on a date together.

* * *

"-And that is why I will never let Yui anywhere near my lawnmower ever again.." Ritsu finished, she glanced up at the giggling raven haired girl sitting across from her, Ritsu smiled at the sight. Mio then turned and looked out of the worn café window, staring into the empty street beyond. She absentmindedly stirred the bowl of strawberry yogurt she had been half-heartedly eating out of. Ritsu grew ever more concerned at Mio's mental absence from the café; she twiddled her thumbs until she felt too much time was slipping away.

"What's up Mio?" Ritsu casually asked, not wanting to voice her concern.

"It's… Nnothing to be worried about." Mio mumbled as she bent her head down closer to her strawberry yogurt and took another sip. Ritsu's curiosity wasn't satisfied in the least, but before she could press for answers Mio spoke again.

"Before you ask again, don't stress or worry about it like you usually do…" Mio half supressed a giggle, "…Baka"

Ritsu raised an eyebrow; how Mio could detect her worry without the drummer even showing it was beyond her. Even though the jig was up, she still decided to press on.

"Fine, you got me," She said, throwing a hand up to sheepishly rub the back of her head in mild embarrassment. "Anyway, what's wrong, for real?" Ritsu sincerely asked, however she was met with silence, as Mio continued to tuck into her yogurt. Mio looked up across the hard oak table over to Ritsu and let out a small smile.

"This yogurt is fantastic, isn't it?" She smiled;. Ritsu couldn't help but smile back and politely agree before tucking into her own cup of yogurt herself.

Mio was right, it was fantastic.

Days passed and Ritsu pondered on the meaning of Mio's distant behaviours. All sorts of rational and irrational solutions passed through her brain, none of them seeming preferable to letting it go. But if something was brewing beneath their happy relationship, Ritsu needed to try something, anything, to quench that blast or at least reduce the blast zone. Her mind wandered at every given opportunity, whether it be in class, in bed, or even while playing her beloved drums. Until eventually, she found a perfect solution.

Mio couldn't believe it

Well how could she?

What sort of madman…

Well, _madwoman_ would probably make far more sense.

Mio tore her eyes off the 30 Strawberry yogurts piled into her desk cabinet, was it a prank? Was it some sort of practical joke that went miles over her head? Mio's brain capacity wasn't nearly large enough to fathom the complexity she thought was behind the meaning of these god-forsaken yogurts. Little did she know the person who did it was sitting only a few desks behind her…

Ritsu giggled at Mio's reaction to the yogurts, first she had let out a surprised scream, then midway through that it had turned into a confused "eh?". Mio had always had the most adorable reactions, Ritsu was sure of it. The brunette rubbed her chin as she waited for the right moment to strike, of course it would have to be well timed, well calculated and over all well executed, now just to wait for the right moment…

Mio saw someone approaching towards her in the corner of her eye, she instantly knew who it was, she could recognise that face anywhere, even if she could barely see it. _Maybe she can help me understand this_ Mio thought to herself. She turned around to face Ritsu and was greeted with a mischievous smile; the raven haired girl neglected to put two and two together and proceeded with her plan.

"Ritsu, do you know what this means?" She matter of factly asked.

"Know what _what_ means, Mio-chaa~aaun?" Ritsu giggled, Mio raised an eyebrow but continued nevertheless.

"Well… Someone stuffed my desk drawer full to the brim with strawberry yogurts of all things," Mio sighed, "Do you know who did it or what it means? I can't put my head around it."

Another giggle escaped Ritsu's mouth, something clicked in Mio's brain and suddenly she found herself realising who the culprit was.

"Eh! Ritsu!?" She gasped, Ritsu smiled bashfully and replied, "…Maybe, Eh-heh" and stuck out her tongue slightly. Adorable was the only word which came to mind, but she wrestled some more context appropriate words out of her boggled brain and continued.

"But… Why…?" Mio managed to mutter, Ritsu's grin grew even wider.

"Because, I saw how much you loved that yogurt in the café, so I thought I'd get you some," She innocently explained, a smile crept onto Mio's face. Sometimes she was at a loss for words when it came to her girlfriend, but that's exactly how she liked it. What had been bothering her at the café… Let's just rest it on the idea that whatever Mio was worrying about there, Ritsu's strange but touching yogurt act put her heart at ease, and reinforced her resolve to see her relationship through to the end.

Mio slipped an arm around Ritsu's waist and pulled her close, she let Ritsu grow a little uncomfortable at the proximity of their bodies before planting a kiss on her forehead. Ritsu giggled and nuzzled her head against Mio's upper shoulder, the warmth of the touching bodies felt good on both ends.

"Y'know, Ritsu. What I was worried about earlier in the café… It doesn't matter; you've put my mind to ease." She gently whispered to the bashful brunettegirl clinging to her. Three things dominated her current thoughts as she pet Ritsu's head, her love for Ritsu, her dedication to Ritsu, and most importantly, her willingness to see it through to the end.

* * *

For the first time in a long while, Mio wasn't remembering a negative memory involving Ritsu, and as much as it would never reach the drummers ears, she didn't hate it. In fact, some would observe that she mildly _enjoyed _it, I mean why else would she be chuckling to herself. _It… _F_eels good… _T_o laugh again_ Mio thought to herself in-between laughter. She hardly noticed the bouncing brunette in front of her until Ritsu yelled out her name to grab her attention.

Mio paused from her laughter and went a light shade of red from being caught chuckling like a madman to herself. She supposed it looked quite odd out of context, although she wouldn't tell Ritsu the context in a million years. Mio brought her attention to the girl in front of her and blushed an even deeper shade of red as Ritsu innocently stared up at the taller girl. Billions of conflicting thoughts ran through Mio's head as she slowly reached out her fingers and brushed away some stray hairs caught in the way of Ritsu's vision. Ritsu blushed slightly at the contact but remained where she was, unmoving from her position looking up to the bassist. Ritsu's somewhat positive reaction to the intimate touching gave Mio the confidence to follow up on it.

"Where's your hairban-" Mio started, but she was suddenly interrupted by the rather rude drummer.

"MIO!" Ritsu yelled abruptly as she brought a hand up from the neck of her guitar and poised it towards Mio's nose, she held stern eye contact for a second before letting her hand drop back to her guitar. Mio patiently waited for Ritsu to explain herself but she was given no such luxury, so she ended up taking it upon herself to politely ask what on earth she was doing.

"Uh, Ritsu, what wa-" She was cut off by another finger, only to the mouth this time. Mio's brow furrowed in confusion as Ritsu's grin widened.

"Look Mio, we arnt gonna get anywhere asking who knows what was going through your mind, so lets just get outside so I can show you this song!" Ritsu pumped a fist up in the air to put some empathis on her request. Her sudden surge of confidence surprised not only Mio, but herself. For weeks, months, she had felt empty, deprived of all things necessary for humans to enjoy life or feel a shred of confidence or self-worth. But now… Now, while she was less than a meter away from the beautiful raven haired girl in front of her, she felt…

She felt…

…Complete…


	11. Chapter 11: A forlorn bond

**A/N: **Hey, progress is continuing on the next few chapters and they'll be released soon, i plan 2 more chapters and then an epilogue then we're done! First off thanks to Sir_Byronn for proofreading this chapter and thanks to all that followed and left reviews. Credits to "Butterfly" from the Pinkerton album for lyrics. Happy reading gamers

* * *

Chapter 11: A Forlorn Bond

* * *

Footsteps echoed throughout the barren halls of Sakuragaoka high school, rain pattered down lightly on the windows as the clouds refused to relent and let the sun shine. The light rain was suddenly interrupted by a jagged bolt of lightning, off-putting those who witnessed the mighty bolt. On any other day Mio would've been terrified to her wits end, in fact even now she couldn't contain a mild jolt through her spine. But today she wouldn't cower in fear, for her hand was currently being held by Ritsu's own small hand. Sure, the drummer wasn't holding her hand for comfort; it was rather to simply drag Mio along so she could show the bassist the song she painstakingly learnt over the course of three days on, of all instruments, an acoustic guitar. Another flash of lightning illuminated the halls briefly before they were once again shrouded in darkness. Mio let out a small yelp at the second bolt and felt herself instinctively tighten her grip on Ritsu's hand. She instantly blushed when she realised she had misused Ritsu's hand for her own comfort. She instantly tried to loosen her grip but stopped in her tracks when, instead of batting her off like Mio thought the drummer would, Ritsu tightened her grip on her hand. She turned around and met Mio's eyes and gave her a small reassuring smile. Mio tried to return the smile but failed and looked down at the floor in an embarrassed manner, they then continued on their journey to the outside stools.

Mio passed a great manor of attractions made for fundraising clubs to complete their goals; some clubs aspired to have enough money to enter a tournament, and some more humble clubs merely wanted money to hand down to their juniors. The notion that maybe the light music club should've made at least _some_ effort to make funds for the club's kohai crossed Mio's mind, but she dismissed it for thoughts more relevant to her current situation. Mio pondered on what the meaning of Ritsu's song would be. Maybe a song of regret? A song of remorse? Mio didn't have the faintest of ideas; however she was nevertheless excited to see what Ritsu had written for her. But she knew the brunette's pain, and part of her was dreading hearing what could potentially hurt her more than what broke them up in the first place did. Mio's attention was suddenly drawn to her hand as she felt Ritsu give a reassuring squeeze. She drew her vision from her hand to the back of Ritsu's head, it remained unchanged as they continued to pace out of the main school complex like they had before the squeeze. Mio inwardly smiled to herself at Ritsu's ability to sense whenever people she cared for were upset, even when she wasn't looking or speaking to them.

Mio then smiled outwardly.

The pair exited out the side door to the school and plunged into the rain outside, which was far less severe than the school windows had made it out to be. Ritsu pulled Mio along by the hand as they twisted and turned round a few more corners, avoiding some near fatal falls onto the concrete path before winding up in an empty wooden gazebo built into the school grounds. Mio panted for breath as Ritsu practically dragged her under the great wooden rain shield the gazebo acted as. Once both girls were inside they collapsed upon each other, giggling over the misadventure through the rain they had shared. Time moved to a standstill as Mio looked into Ritsu's happy face, it was a sight she had long since wanted, and it filled her with warmth knowing that she had made the adorable brunette happy. Her stomach suddenly churned at the realisation that she and Ritsu were still ex's at that moment in time, and she wasn't the one to bring Ritsu happiness. That was Yui. Ritsu belonged to Yui. Yui would do everything Mio was destined to do with her. Her smile twisted into a light frown as she now avoided Ritsu's glowing happy face, not wanting her insides to churn with envy and regret anymore. Mio kept her gaze fixated on the floor as Ritsu's laughter slowly died down and an awkward silence overcame both of them. As soon as the silence settled, Mio regretted her actions. She wished she'd just kept on laughing, deluding herself into thinking nothing was wrong and Ritsu was still her own knight in shining armour. Then they could've continued laughing like they used to, back in better days that Mio would give anything to return to. The most painful part of all was that she _knew _Ritsu felt the same way. Ritsu missed her. She knew it not only in her gut, but her mind and gut were in union in the belief that her ongoing love to the drummer was mutual. She just wished Yui wasn't in the equation. If she wasn't, Mio would've pulled Ritsu back into their relationship, whether she wanted to or not.

_I want my Rizzy __back..._ Mio solemnly thought to herself

"Eh!?" Ritsu suddenly yelled, Mio came to her senses and brought her eyes up to meet Ritsu's own panicked eyes which were partially hidden behind her loose bangs. Mio felt faint as she realised she must have muttered her previous thought, exposing her most inner desire to the one person she was not meant to share it with. The ever-present rain failed to register in Mio's spinning mind as she tried to think of a possible solution to her situation. Even a flimsy pathetic excuse refused to come to mind as her mind clocked into overtime and her senses jumbled. Such a situation was impossible, it couldn't have happened; Mio saw it best to move to denial and laughed off her prior concern, burying her accidental confession in her mind's inner vault. Mio hurriedly mentally recomposed herself and spoke into the awkward silence, determined to break it and move on from that slip up.

"So… I believe you brought me here to show me your song?" Mio questioned to a speechless Ritsu.

The apparent guitarist was in over her head and rather tongue tied; Mio still loved her in that way? Even after what happened? Ritsu smiled inwardly, but she couldn't show it outwardly as she didn't want to make the situation even more uncomfortable it already was. Besides, Mio had already moved on and wanted to hear her song, the reassurance that all of her efforts to cram learn the song on one of her most hated instruments did not go to waste encouraged her to press on with her plan. There would be a time to address Mio's thoughts later, and the song might just help her chances of Ritsu getting her way in their predicament.

"Yeah… T-that's right!" Ritsu exclaimed as her ability to control the pitch of her voice eluded her, "H-hang on a second Mio-!"

"That's Mio_-san_ to you, Ritsu-san." Mio coldly reminded the brunette. Ritsu paused and slowly turned to face Mio, the usual twinkle in her eye completely absent. Ritsu's face sported a sad frown and practically radiated hurt. The bassist instantly saw the heartbreak in Ritsu's beautiful amber eyes and her stomach filled to the brim with regret and empathy for the brunette. It was at this moment that Mio's resolve broke into a thousand pieces much like her heart and a lone tear fell from her cheek to the cold unforgiving wooden floor of the grand gazebo. She pulled her hand up to her nose to wipe the onslaught of snot one gets when crying, but found it futile as a single tear turned into a light sob. She was overcome by feelings she struggled to explain or justify and turned to dash out of the Gazebo, once again running from her problems at every given opportunity. She had barely stood up before she felt herself being tackled to the ground and felt a pair of arms squeeze her tight.

The fall had Mio dazed and confused as she made sense of the situation at hand, once she got a hold of herself she cast her attention to the drummer hugging her with all her might. She stared down at the top of Ritsu's beautiful auburn hair and felt all of her stress about the brunette drown away in the hug. She reached out her arms and returned the embrace with fresh tears, burying her head into the crook of Ritsu's neck. She moved her head closer to the drummer's chest and relaxed to hearing the familiar beat of Ritsu's heart.

Ritsu and Mio had not hugged in what seemed the longest of times, although the prior would never admit it, she craved the latter's embrace more than she craved a hard working band or even a loyal girlfriend. She wanted Ritsu back.

"I've gotcha Mio." Ritsu caringly whispered into the sensitive bassist's ear. The words struck Mio deeply and brought priorly repressed memories flooding back to her.

"Woah Mio! I bet you can see America from all the way up here!" a boisterous Ritsu exclaimed, squeezing her girlfriend's hand in delight as the pair reached the top of (or at least as high as tourists could go, although Ritsu would be steadfast in telling her friends that she reached the very peak of the mountain) Mt. Atago. This particular mountain range had been on Ritsu's mind for a good while now; she spoke endlessly of its wonders and beauties. Eventually Mio decided that Mt. Atago would be a good spot to exercise her photography skills (well, that was the explanation she gave Ritsu, although she much preferred to please the amber eyed girl over any photography spot.) so she booked some tickets to go and tour it in the upcoming school holiday, to say Ritsu was thankful would be an momentous understatement. In fact she was _so _thankful that she hugged Mio for 4 hours straight and refused to let go until "All of her thankfulness had been transferred via hug". Mio accepted her thanks, and couldn't resist covering Ritsu's ticket cost after seeing how absurdly thankful she was.

Ritsu grinned with glee as birds soared around her and the town below seemed like a mere ant hill compared to the mighty height the eldest Tainaka resided at. She took in a deep breath of fresh mountainous air and yelled words of dominance and arrogance down to the humble tourist town below, much to the discomfort of everyone else on the tour and to the extreme embarrassment of her girlfriend. Mio stepped forwards a few paces before breaking into a small sprint bearing the intent to clobber Ritsu over the head for being an insufferable tourist. However, Ritsu was a step ahead of her gullible girlfriend, so she quickly side stepped Mio's vengeance and watched her stumble and fall into the mid height wall which separated tourists from the jagged cliffs below. The blood rushed to Mio's head as she stumbled to get herself back up, she rubbed the temple of her head to soothe now aching impact area.

_So that's what it feels like to-_

Mio's thought process stopped dead in its tracks as nausea began to set in. The raven haired girl felt faint as she stared directly down to see through the glass platform she was currently standing on. Both her crippling fear of heights and fear in every meaning of the word kicked in as Mio stumbled backwards with horror written all over her face. A few lone tears of dread escaped her eyes as she struggled to find her voice to call for help. The effort was futile. She had barely reversed a few steps before she collided into a small figure standing behind her. It was at this moment that fear overcame Mio's fragile mind and she instinctively clung to whomever she had bumped into beforehand. A soft small hand pet her head and stroked her as if she was a feline. The gesture caught a few off glances from fellow tourists, but Ritsu couldn't care less as Mio cuddled up closer to her, nuzzling Ritsu with gentle passion. _Thank god I didn't bump into any old stranger_ Mio thought as she settled further into Ritsu's chest, the drummer's warmth embracing her. Ritsu whispered words of reassurance into her ear, the amber eyed girl's familiar voice soothed Mio to no end.

"I've gotcha Mio"

* * *

No, Mio wouldn't cry at the memory. Well, she was already crying, both she and Ritsu were. Although crying is perhaps the wrong word, as the pair were just sniffling together now, embracing like there were no tomorrow. Once Mio seemed to have settled down, Ritsu slowly untangled herself from the Bassist's embrace and wandered over to fetch the acoustic guitar which had brought them to the gazebo in the first place. She seated herself on one of the steps of the gazebo, still shielded from the rain and turned to face Mio. She wiped her nose and eyes with her sleeve and gathered up all the remaining courage left in her body. She carefully yet elegantly moved her hand to begin to play the guitar. Mio sat cross legged on the step slightly to the right and below the brunette. Mio felt her fascination to the song apparently written for her hit its peak and looked up to witness the girl whom, throughout all of their strife, was still smiling at her nevertheless. Amber met grey as Ritsu began to play the guitar and a beautiful guitar melody filled the air around them, overpowering the rainfall that was peppering the outside world.

Mio's eyes widened with disbelief at Ritsu's guitar playing. The bassist had expected a disjointed and imperfect performance. How wrong she had been. Ritsu played the guitar with such care and perfection that she was almost convinced she was watching Jimmy Page perform a solo on one of her many Led Zeppelin cd's she and Ritsu used to enjoy listening to together back in better times.

_Although Ritsu was always more of a 'The Who' fan herself..._

Mio's ears then pricked up as Ritsu began to sing the lyrics.

"_Yesterday I went outside, with my Momma's mason jar, caught a lovely butterfly_

_When I woke up today, she had withered all away_

_No more sighing in her breast, I'm sorry for what I did_

_I did what my body told me to and I didn't mean to do you harm"_

Although she wouldn't ever admit it, Mio always thought that Ritsu sort of had a knack for song writing. Of course it wasn't on par with her own, she still believed the brunette was capable of song writing straight from the heart. And this only confirmed her beliefs that Ritsu was one of those gifted few who conveyed her emotions so beautifully through song. Although the lyrics moved her, the melody too began to increasingly tug on Mio's heartstrings as the performance went on.

"_Smell you on my hand for days_

_I can't wash away your scent_

_If I'm a dog then you're a bitch_

_I guess you're as real as me_

_Maybe I can live with that_

_Maybe I need fantasy"_

Tears once again hung at the corners of Mio's eyes as she processed the lyrics and digested how they related to her own behaviour. Although she didn't initially appreciate being called a bitch, she understood that her behaviour had been… a tad unkind in most situations since their break up. She understood other meanings behind the lyrics. How Ritsu couldn't forget her even when she tried. How Ritsu felt loss at not being able to have the physical affection Mio used to shower her with. How Ritsu was losing her grip on reality and longed for her affection. Tears silently rolled down her cheeks as she brought her attention back to Ritsu and her ever moving performance.

"_I'm sorry…_

_I'm sorry…_

_I'm so~o~ry…"_

* * *

She did it. After all of that practising, after all of the however useful headache inducing lessons from Yui, she had learnt the song and now she had finally performed it. Her feelings that she struggled so hard to convey she had finally put across to the one who still had a firm grasp on her heart. Would she now be free of her tormentor's grasp? Only time would tell, but Ritsu didn't have time, so she rested the guitar down on the banister to the gazebo and leaned over to Mio. She gently lifted Mio's face by her chin and saw the quiet tears flowing from the girl's eyes. Regret overflowed Ritsu's torn heart as Mio avoided her concerned stare.

_What have I done?_

_Have I ruined it?_

_Have I severed our connection for good?_

Ritsu's thoughts were suddenly answered by a pair of arms wrapping themselves around her. The arms hugged her tight and the head burying itself into Ritsu's shoulder that was accompanying it conveyed a message of deep sorrow. Ritsu sat up straight for a few seconds, still trying to understand why after all she had done and said to Mio, she still clung to her. Ritsu's brain toiled and turned to come to at least one sensible and logical conclusion before one little thing wormed its way into her thought process.

_No matter how hurt or broken by the other they are, soul mates always forgive one another. Always._

Ritsu felt her hatred of the bassist once again falter and… subside, perhaps for good. She reached out her arms and held Mio tight, hoping to convey all the forgiveness in the world to her to even slightly compensate for their hurtful past. Mio hugged back tighter in response to Ritsu's embrace. Mio had her head pressed to Ritsu's chest, deriving calm from the consistent steady beat of Ritsu's heart. The drummer moved her head forwards and laid it on top of Mio's own head, almost entirely encompassing Mio within her grasp. The two girls sat there as they remembered every awful word and action exchanged between them and let the memory die in the heat of the others body. Mio spoke words of remorse, how she had acted unfairly and cruelly and attempted to humiliate her in front of others. Ritsu spilled her heart out explaining how she wanted Mio back from the very beginning and regretted every bruise she had punched into their bond. The girls sobbed together for a brief while, every sob an ounce of hatred for one another leaving the soul.

After a time Mio unhanded herself from her amber eyed soulmate and stood. She backed away a step down the gazebo but suddenly lunged back into Ritsu's arms as a bolt of lightning came thundering through the sky. Mio blushed slightly at Ritsu's reassuring hug and raised herself once again, mentally preparing herself for any more lightning (although she knew it would scare her half to death again whether she wanted it to or not) and reached into her blazer pocket.

Out came a familiar yellow hairband.

The breath left Ritsu's lungs at the sight of the accessory, she found herself gasping, chocking on the air around her and she didn't quite understand why. Then it hit her like a blow to the face, leaving her dazed and confused. Ritsu staggered to her feet and backed away from Mio, cowering from the headband like it were a death sentence. The hairband's presence brought Ritsu back to a few months prior, specifically to a certain unpleasant afternoon at the park with a certain bassist. The couple were arguing, fighting, spitting insults at one another, getting in every kick they can, sometimes metaphorically, sometimes physically.

The couple's bickering eventually climaxed with Mio forcing a strong blow to Ritsu's face, unwinding years of affection in a single hit. The hit was also not of normal capacity or done as punishment, it was committed under hatred and overwhelming anger rather than the standard annoyance that justified such violence. Mio's hand, in the process of attacking her girlfriend, hit the headband straight off Ritsu's head in an unfortunate crossfire. By the time Mio had knelt down and picked up the hairband, ready to return it and apologise sincerely to the smaller girl, she was gone. Gone for good.

Unable to push such memories aside, Ritsu struggled to not be overwhelmed by the hairband, she spluttered and fell, cowing in fear from what she once wore with boastful pride. That was until Mio, distressed by Ritsu's negative reaction, knelt down next to the girl and stroked her softly, running her slender fingers through Ritsu's auburn hair. The gentle action soothed Ritsu's pain and the inner turmoil of her mind, enough so that she felt confident enough to spring up and embrace the bassist with all her might. The pair clung to each other, enjoying the warmth of each other's bodies for a fair time before Mio pulled away, picked up the twice discarded headband and carefully placing it back onto the drummer. Mio took a few steps back to admire her handiwork; Ritsu looked near the same as she did several months ago, besides the blotchy eyes and worn, tired and bittersweet expression. Her bangs now lay parted to the sides and her eyes were clearly visible with no hair obstructing them. Although Mio had always partially entertained the idea of Ritsu having her hair down, in the end she wound up deciding she enjoyed the warm, fuzzy and happy feeling the amber eyes gave her over the attractive bangs.

Ritsu beamed with happiness at once again having the bassist dress her (even if this time round it were only a hairband) and offered out her hand to Mio, who took nanoseconds to snatch up the opportunity to hold hands with Ritsu once again. The pair exchanged a happy smile before screaming tore through the intimate atmosphere like a knife. Ritsu spun round to face the source of the scream, and witnessed Azusa, sprinting as fast as her little body would carry her, towards the gazebo.

Mio quickly descended down the stairs and caught Azusa in her arms as she tripped on the first step and came crumbling down to the ground. Panic practically radiating from here face, Azusa clumsily picked herself up and explained the situation with Yui, sobbing between words all the while. As soon as Ritsu became aware that Yui was about to slip between her fingers and leave her forever, she left Mio and Azusa in the dust and began pulling herself forwards, urging her already aching body to make one last journey to the music room, to make amends before she would lose the light to her ever darkening life and be quenched in darkness forever.


End file.
